Using mote-associated indexes

ABSTRACT

Systems and related methods utilizing one or more mote-related content indexes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to, claims the earliest availableeffective filing date(s) from (e.g., claims earliest available prioritydates for other than provisional patent applications; claims benefitsunder 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patent applications), andincorporates by reference in its entirety all subject matter of thefollowing listed application(s); the present application also claims theearliest available effective filing date(s) from, and also incorporatesby reference in its entirety all subject matter of any and all parent,grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the followinglisted application(s):

PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

-   -   1. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/900,163, entitled “USING MOTE-ASSOCIATED        INDEXES”, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and Clarence T. Tegreene as        inventors, filed Jul. 27, 2004, which is currently co-pending,        or is an application of which a currently co-pending application        is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.    -   2. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/844,613, entitled MOTE-ASSOCIATED LOG        CREATION, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and Clarence T. Tegreene as        inventors, filed 12 May 2004, which is currently co-pending, or        is an application of which a currently co-pending application is        entitled to the benefit of the filing date.    -   3. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/844,564, entitled TRANSMISSION OF        MOTE-ASSOCIATED LOG DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 12 May 2004, which is        currently abandoned, but is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   4. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application entitled Ser. No. 10/844,612, AGGREGATING        MOTE-ASSOCIATED LOG DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 12 May 2004, which is        currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   5. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/844,614, entitled TRANSMISSION OF        AGGREGATED MOTE-ASSOCIATED LOG DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung        and Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 12 May 2004, now        issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,346,846, and which is an application        of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the        benefit of the filing date.    -   6. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/843,987, entitled FEDERATING        MOTE-ASSOCIATED LOG DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 12 May 2004, which is        currently abandoned, but is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   7. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/816,375, entitled MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX        CREATION, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and Clarence T. Tegreene as        inventors, filed 31 Mar. 2004, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.        8,200,744, and which is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   8. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/816,082, entitled TRANSMISSION OF        MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 31 Mar. 2004, which is        currently abandoned, but is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   9. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/816,358, entitled AGGREGATING        MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 31 Mar. 2004, now        issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,161,097, and which is an application        of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the        benefit of the filing date.    -   10. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/816,102, entitled TRANSMISSION OF        AGGREGATED MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung        and Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 31 Mar. 2004, now        issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,335,814, and which is an application        of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the        benefit of the filing date.    -   11. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/816,364, entitled FEDERATING        MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 31 Mar. 2004, which is        currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   12. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/813,967, entitled MOTE NETWORKS HAVING        DIRECTIONAL ANTENNAS, naming Clarence T. Tegreene as inventor,        filed 31 Mar. 2004, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,366,544, and        which is an application of which a currently co-pending        application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.    -   13. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/814,454, entitled MOTE NETWORKS USING        DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA TECHNIQUES, naming Clarence T. Tegreene as        inventor, filed 31 Mar. 2004, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.        7,317,898, and which is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   14. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/850,914, entitled USING MOTE-ASSOCIATED        LOGS, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and Clarence T. Tegreene as        inventors, filed 20 May 2004, which is currently abandoned, but        is an application of which a currently co-pending application is        entitled to the benefit of the filing date.    -   15. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/877,109, entitled USING FEDERATED        MOTE-ASSOCIATED LOGS, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and Clarence T.        Tegreene as inventors, filed 25 Jun. 2004, now issued as U.S.        Pat. No. 7,389,295, and which is an application of which a        currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of        the filing date.    -   16. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/877,099, entitled FREQUENCY REUSE        TECHNIQUES IN MOTE-APPROPRIATE NETWORKS, naming Edward K. Y.        Jung and Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 25 Jun. 2004,        now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,599,696, and which is an        application of which a currently co-pending application is        entitled to the benefit of the filing date.    -   17. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/882,119, entitled MOTE-APPROPRIATE        NETWORK POWER REDUCTION TECHNIQUES, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed 30 Jun. 2004, which is        currently abandoned, but is an application of which a currently        co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing        date.    -   18. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the        present application constitutes a continuation of U.S. patent        application Ser. No. 10/900,147, entitled USING FEDERATED        MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEXES, naming Edward K. Y. Jung and        Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, filed contemporaneously        herewith, which is currently abandoned, but is an application of        which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the        benefit of the filing date.

The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a notice to theeffect that the USPTO's computer programs require that patent applicantsreference both a serial number and indicate whether an application is acontinuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parentapplication. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit of Prior-Filed Application, USPTOOfficial Gazette Mar. 18, 2003. The USPTO further has provided forms forthe Application Data Sheet which allow automatic loading ofbibliographic data but which require identification of each applicationas a continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parentapplication. The present Applicant Entity (hereinafter “Applicant”) hasprovided above a specific reference to the application(s) from whichpriority is being claimed as recited by statute. Applicant understandsthat the statute is unambiguous in its specific reference language anddoes not require either a serial number or any characterization, such as“continuation” or “continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S.patent applications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Applicantunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence Applicant has provided designation(s) of arelationship between the present application and its parentapplication(s) as set forth above and in any ADS filed in thisapplication, but expressly points out that such designation(s) are notto be construed in any way as any type of commentary and/or admission asto whether or not the present application contains any new matter inaddition to the matter of its parent application(s).

If the listings of applications provided above are inconsistent with thelistings provided via an ADS, it is the intent of the Applicant to claimpriority to each application that appears in the Priority Applicationssection of the ADS and to each application that appears in the PriorityApplications section of this application.

All subject matter of the Priority Applications and the RelatedApplications and of any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Priority Applications and the RelatedApplications, including any priority claims, is incorporated herein byreference to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistentherewith.

If an Application Data Sheet (ADS) has been filed on the filing date ofthis application, it is incorporated by reference herein. Anyapplications claimed on the ADS for priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119, 120,121, or 365(c), and any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of such applications, are also incorporated byreference, including any priority claims made in those applications andany material incorporated by reference, to the extent such subjectmatter is not inconsistent herewith.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates, in general, to motes.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a method includes but is not limited to: accepting inputdefining a mote-appropriate network task; searching at least onemote-addressed content index in response to said accepted input; andpresenting an indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriatenetwork task. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects aredescribed in the claims, drawings, and/or text forming a part of thepresent application.

In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are notlimited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting theherein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming canbe virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmwareconfigured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending uponthe design choices of the system designer.

In one aspect, a method includes but is not limited to: loading at leastone mote-addressed content index to a computer system external to amote-appropriate network; accepting input defining a task of themote-appropriate network; and searching the loaded at least onemote-addressed content index in response to said input. In addition tothe foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims,drawings, and/or text forming a part of the present application.

In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are notlimited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting theherein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming canbe virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmwareconfigured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending uponthe design choices of the system designer.

In one aspect, a method includes but is not limited to: loading at leastone multi-mote content index to a computer system external to amote-appropriate network; accepting input defining a task of themote-appropriate network; and searching the loaded at least onemulti-mote content index, in response to said input. In addition to theforegoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings,and/or text forming a part of the present application.

In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are notlimited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting theherein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming canbe virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmwareconfigured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending uponthe design choices of the system designer.

In one aspect, a method includes but is not limited to: loading at leastone aggregation of content indexes to a computer system external to amote-appropriate network; accepting input defining a task of themote-appropriate network; and searching the loaded at least oneaggregation of content indexes, in response to said input. In additionto the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims,drawings, and/or text forming a part of the present application.

In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are notlimited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting theherein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming canbe virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmwareconfigured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending uponthe design choices of the system designer.

In addition to the foregoing, various other method and/or system aspectsare set forth and described in the text (e.g., claims and/or detaileddescription) and/or drawings of the present application.

The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity,simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, inventive features, and advantages of the devices and/orprocesses described herein, as defined by the claims, will becomeapparent in the detailed description set forth herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows an example of mote 100 of mote-appropriate network 150 thatmay serve as a context of one or more processes and/or devices describedherein.

FIG. 2 depicts an exploded view of mote 200 that forms a part of amote-appropriate network (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4, 7, 8, 9, and/or10).

FIG. 3 depicts an exploded view of mote 300 forming a part ofmote-appropriate network 350 that may serve as a context for introducingone or more processes and/or devices described herein.

FIG. 4 shows a high-level diagram of a network having a first set ofmotes addressed 1A through MA (M is an integer greater than 1; A is theletter A and in some instances is used herein to help distinguishdifferently administered networks as in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10), which mayform a context for illustrating one or more processes and/or devicesdescribed herein.

FIGS. 5A-5B depict an exploded view of mote 500 forming a part ofmote-appropriate network 550 that may serve as a context for introducingone or more processes and/or devices described herein.

FIGS. 6A-6B depict an exploded view of mote 600 forming a part ofmote-appropriate network 550 (FIGS. 5A-5B) that may serve as a contextfor introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein.

FIG. 7 shows a high-level diagram of an exploded view of amote-appropriate network that depicts a first set of motes addressed 1Athrough MA (M is an integer greater than 1; A is the letter A and insome instances is used herein to help distinguish differentlyadministered networks as in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10), which may form anenvironment for process(es) and/or device(s) described herein.

FIG. 8 shows a high-level diagram of first-administered set 800 of motesaddressed 1A through MA, and second-administered set 802 of motesaddressed 1B through NB (M and N are integers greater than 1; A and Bare letters used herein to help distinguish differently administerednetworks as in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10) that may form an environment forprocess(es) and/or device(s) described herein.

FIG. 9 shows a high-level diagram of first-administered set 800 of motesand second-administered set 802 of motes modified in accordance withteachings of the subject matter described herein.

FIG. 10 shows the high-level diagram of FIG. 9, modified to showfirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes wherein each mote is illustrated as having index(es) (e.g.,mote-addressed and/or multi-mote) and an associated reporting entity.

FIGS. 11A-11B show an exemplary exploded view of federated index 916.

FIG. 12 depicts a perspective cut-away view of a hallway that may forman environment of processes and/or devices described herein.

FIGS. 13, 14 and 15 show three-timed sequenced views of a persontransiting wall 1200 and floor 1202 of the hallway of FIG. 12.

FIG. 16 depicts a perspective view of the hallway of FIG. 12, modifiedin accord with aspects of the subject matter described herein.

FIG. 17 illustrates that a first set 400 of the physical motes of wall1200 may be treated as mapped into a conceptual x-y coordinate system.

FIG. 18 shows a partially schematic diagram that pictographicallyillustrates the coordinating of the conceptual mapping of the motes ofwall 1200 with the indexes of first set 400 of the motes of wall 1200.

FIGS. 19, 20 and 21 show time-stamped versions of subset 1900 ofaggregation 710 associated with the state of first set 400 of motes.

FIG. 22 depicts a high-level logic flowchart of a process.

FIG. 23 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart depicting severalalternate implementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 22.

FIG. 24 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart depicting severalalternate implementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 22.

FIG. 25 shows a high-level logic flowchart depicting several alternateimplementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 shows a high-level logic flowchart depicting several alternateimplementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 illustrates the perspective cut-away view of the hallway of FIG.12 modified in accord with aspects of the subject matter describedherein.

FIG. 28 shows that first-administered set 800 and second-administeredset 802 of the physical motes of wall 1200 may be treated as mapped intoa conceptual x-y coordinate system.

FIG. 29 shows a partially schematic diagram that pictographicallyillustrates the coordinating of the conceptual mapping of the motes ofwall 1200 with indexes of first-administered set 800 andsecond-administered set 802 of the physical motes of wall 1200.

FIG. 30 shows time-stamped versions of subset 3010 of aggregation 910 offirst-administered content indexes associated with the state offirst-administered set 800 of motes, where subset 3010 represents motesindicated as appropriate to the input defining the mote-appropriatenetwork task (e.g., image capture in infrared).

FIG. 31 depicts time-stamped versions of subset 3112 of aggregation 912of second-administered content logs associated with the state ofsecond-administered set 802 of motes, where subset 3112 represents motesindicated as appropriate to the input defining the mote-appropriatenetwork task (e.g., image capture in infrared).

FIGS. 32, 33, and 34, illustrate different versions of federated contentindex 916 drawn on subset 3010 of first-administered set 800 of motesand subset 3112 of second-administered set 802 of motes.

FIG. 35 depicts a high-level logic flowchart of a process.

FIG. 36 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart depicting severalalternate implementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 35.

FIG. 37 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart depicting severalalternate implementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 35.

FIG. 38 shows a high-level logic flowchart depicting several alternateimplementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 37.

FIG. 39 shows a high-level logic flowchart depicting several alternateimplementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 37.

FIG. 40 shows a high-level logic flowchart depicting several alternateimplementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 37.

FIG. 41 illustrates a high-level logic flowchart depicting severalalternate implementations of the high-level logic flowchart of FIG. 35.

The use of the same symbols in different drawings typically indicatessimilar or identical items.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present application uses formal outline headings for clarity ofpresentation. However, it is to be understood that the outline headingsare for presentation purposes, and that different types of subjectmatter may be discussed throughout the application (e.g.,device(s)/structure(s) may be described under process(es)/operationsheading(s) and/or process(es)/operations may be discussed understructure(s)/process(es) headings; and/or descriptions of single topicsmay span two or more topic headings). Hence, the use of the formaloutline headings is not intended to be in any way limiting.

I. Mote-Associated Index Creation

A. Structure(s) and/or System(s)

With reference now to FIG. 1, shown is an example of mote 100 ofmote-appropriate network 150 that may serve as a context for introducingone or more processes and/or devices described herein. A mote istypically composed of sensors, actuators, computational entities, and/orcommunications entities formulated, in most cases at least in part, froma substrate. As used herein, the term “mote” typically means asemi-autonomous computing, communication, and/or sensing device asdescribed in the mote literature (e.g., Intel Corporation's moteliterature), as well as equivalents recognized by those having skill inthe art (e.g., Intel Corporation's smart dust projects). Mote 100depicts a specific example of a more general mote. Mote 100 isillustrated as having antenna 102, physical layer 104, antenna entity119, network layer 108 (shown for sake of example as a mote-appropriatead hoc routing application), light device entity 110,electrical/magnetic device entity 112, pressure device entity 114,temperature device entity 116, volume device entity 118, and inertialdevice entity 120. Light device entity 110, electrical/magnetic deviceentity 112, pressure device entity 114, temperature device entity 116,volume device entity 118, antenna entity 119, and inertial device entity120 are depicted to respectively couple through physical layers 104 withlight device 140, electrical/magnetic device 142, pressure device 144,temperature device 156, volume device 158, antenna 102, and inertialdevice 160. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the hereindescribed entities and/or devices are illustrative, and that otherentities and/or devices consistent with the teachings herein may besubstituted and/or added.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that herein the term “device,”as used in the context of devices comprising or coupled to a mote, isintended to represent but is not limited to transmitting devices and/orreceiving devices dependent on context. For instance, in some exemplarycontexts light device 140 is implemented using one or more lighttransmitters (e.g., coherent light transmission devices or non-coherentlight transmission devices) and/or one or more light receivers (e.g.,coherent light reception devices or non-coherent light receptiondevices) and/or one or more supporting devices (e.g., optical filters,hardware, firmware, and/or software). In some exemplary implementations,electrical/magnetic device 142 is implemented using one or moreelectrical/magnetic transmitters (e.g., electrical/magnetic transmissiondevices) and/or one or more electrical/magnetic receivers (e.g.,electrical/magnetic reception devices) and/or one or more supportingdevices (e.g., electrical/magnetic filters, supporting hardware,firmware, and/or software). In some exemplary implementations, pressuredevice 144 is implemented using one or more pressure transmitters (e.g.,pressure transmission devices) and/or one or more pressure receivers(e.g., pressure reception devices) and/or one or more supporting devices(e.g., supporting hardware, firmware, and/or software). In someexemplary implementations, temperature device 156 is implemented usingone or more temperature transmitters (e.g., temperature transmissiondevices) and/or one or more temperature receivers (e.g., temperaturereception devices) and/or one or more supporting devices (e.g.,supporting hardware, firmware, and/or software). In some exemplaryimplementations, volume device 158 is implemented using one or morevolume transmitters (e.g., gas/liquid transmission devices) and/or oneor more volume receivers (e.g., gas/liquid reception devices) and/or oneor more supporting devices (e.g., supporting hardware, firmware, and/orsoftware). In some exemplary implementations, inertial device 160 isimplemented using one or more inertial transmitters (e.g., inertialforce transmission devices) and/or one or more inertial receivers (e.g.,inertial force reception devices) and/or one or more supporting devices(e.g., supporting hardware, firmware, and/or software). Those skilled inthe art will recognize that although a quasi-stack architecture isutilized herein for clarity of presentation, other architectures may besubstituted in light of the teachings herein. In addition, although notexpressly shown, those having skill in the art will appreciate thatentities and/or functions associated with concepts underlying OpenSystem Interconnection (OSI) layer 2 (data link layers) and OSI layers4-6 (transport-presentation layers) may be present and active toallow/provide communications consistent with the teachings herein. Thosehaving skill in the art will appreciate that these entities and/orfunctions are not expressly shown/described herein for sake of clarity.

Referring now to FIG. 2, depicted is an exploded view of mote 200 thatforms a part of a mote-appropriate network (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4,7, 8, 9, and/or 10). Mote 200 is illustrated as similar to mote 100(FIG. 1), but with the addition of index creation agent 202,mote-addressed sensing index 204, mote-addressed control index 206, andmote-addressed routing/spatial index 252. Specific instances ofmote-addressed control and/or mote-addressed sensing indexes are shownin FIG. 2. For an example of what one implementation of a mote-addressedrouting/spatial index might contain, see the mote-addressedrouting/spatial indexes shown internal to multi-mote content index 504of FIGS. 5A-5B. As shown in FIGS. 5A-5B, in some implementations amote-addressed routing/spatial index will contain a listing of moteaddresses directly accessible from a mote (e.g., via direct radiotransmission/reception from/by antenna 102), an assessment of qualitiesof data communications service on the data communication links to suchdirectly accessible motes, and/or a listing of relative and/or absolutespatial coordinates of such directly accessible motes.

In one implementation, index creation agent 202 is a computerprogram—resident in mote 200—that executes on a processor of mote 200and that constructs and/or stores mote-addressed sensing index 204,mote-addressed control index 206, and/or mote-addressed muting/spatialindex 252 in memory of mote 200. In some implementations, index creationagent 202 is pre-installed on mote 200 prior to mote 200 being added toa mote-appropriate network, while in other implementations indexcreation agent 202 crawls and/or is transmitted to mote 200 from anotherlocation (e.g., an index creation agent at another mote or anothernetworked computer (not shown) clones itself and sends that clone tomote 200). In yet other implementations, index creation agent 202 isinstalled at a proxy (not shown) for mote 200.

The inventors point out that in some applications the systems and/orprocesses transfer their instructions in a piecewise fashion over time,such as is done in the mote-appropriate Mate′ virtual machine of therelated art. The inventors also point out that in some applicationsmotes are low-power and/or low bandwidth devices, and thus in someimplementations the system(s) and process(es) described herein allowmany minutes (e.g., hours, days, or even weeks) for herein describedagents and/or processes to migrate to and establish themselves atvarious nodes. The same may also hold true for transmission ofinformation among nodes in that in some implementations suchtransmission may be done over the course of hours, days, or even weeksdepending upon bandwidth, power, and/or other constraints. In otherimplementations, the migrations and/or transmissions are accomplishedmore rapidly, and in some cases may be accomplished as rapidly aspossible.

B. Process(es) and/or Scheme(s)

Mote 200 of FIG. 2 can serve as a context in which one or more processesand/or devices may be illustrated. In one exemplary process, once indexcreation agent 202 has become active at mote 200, index creation agent202 communicates with device entity registry 210 to receive deviceidentifiers indicative of device entities present at mote 200 (e.g.,light device entity 110, electrical/magnetic device entity 112, pressuredevice entity 114, etc.). In some implementations, device entities ofmote 200 register their presences with device entity registry 210, whilein other implementations the operating system of mote 200 registers thedevice entities when the operating system installs the device entitiesand/or their associated drivers (if any). In some implementations, onceindex creation agent 202 becomes aware of what device entities arepresent, index creation agent 202 communicates with the device entities(e.g., light device entity 110, electrical/magnetic entity 112, pressureentity 114, etc.) to find out what sensing functions are present and/oravailable at their various respectively associated devices (e.g., lightdevice 140, electrical/magnetic device 142, pressure device 144, etc.),the formats used to query their various respectively associated devices,and the format in which the information will be rendered by theirvarious respectively associated devices; index creation agent 202 alsoqueries the device entities to find out what control functions arepresent at their various respectively associated devices, the formatsused to cause their various respectively associated devices to executetheir respective control functions, and the formats in which theirvarious respectively associated devices will render feedback aboutcontrol command execution. In some implementations, index creation agent202 also communicates with muting/spatial index 252 to find out themote-network address of mote 200 (e.g., mote-network address 6A) as wellas other spatial information (e.g., mote-network addresses and/orspatial locations of the motes that can be reached directly by wirelesslink from mote 200; spatial locations may be absolute and/or relative tosome marker, such as mote 200 itself). In some implementations, indexcreation agent 202 communicates with the device entities using a commonapplication protocol which specifies standard interfaces that allowindex creation agent 202 to garner the necessary information withoutknowing the internal workings and/or architectures of each specificdevice entity. In other implementations, such a common applicationprotocol is not used.

In various implementations, contemporaneous with and/or subsequent toindex creation agent 202 communicating with the device entities, indexcreation unit 202 creates one or more mote-addressed content indexeswhich in some implementations are associated with the mote-networkaddress of the mote at which index creation unit 202 resides. Theinventors point out that examples of the term “index,” and/or phrasescontaining the term “index,” exist in the text (e.g., independentclaims, dependent claims, detailed description, and/or summary) and/ordrawings forming the present application and that such term and/orphrases may have scopes different from like terms and/or phrases used inother contexts. Mote 200 is depicted for sake of illustration as havinga mote-address of 6A. Accordingly, specific examples of more generalmote-addressed content indexes are shown in FIG. 2 as mote 6A-addressedsensing index 204 and mote 6A-addressed control index 206, whichrespectively list the sensing and control capabilities in associationwith device-identifiers associated with devices present and/or availableat mote 200; in addition, shown as yet another specific example of moregeneral mote-addressed content indexes is mote 6A-addressedrouting/spatial index 252 which typically contains a listing ofmote-network addresses of those motes directly accessible from mote 200and such directly accessible motes' spatial orientations relative tomote 200 and/or some other common spatial reference location (e.g.,GPS). In some implementations, index creation unit 202 creates one ormore extensible mote-addressed content indexes (e.g., creating the oneor more extensible indexes in response to a type of content beingindexed). In addition, those having skill in the art will appreciatethat while direct mote addressing is shown and described herein for sakeof clarity (e.g., mote-appropriate network addresses), the moteaddressing described herein may also entail indirect addressing,dependent upon context. Examples of indirect addressing includeapproaches where a mote-address encodes an address of an agent that inturn produces the address of the mote (analogous to the Domain NameSystem in the Internet), or where the mote-address directly orindirectly encodes a route to a mote (analogous to explicit or implicitroutable addresses.). Those having skill in the art will appreciate thatadapting the teachings herein to indirect addressing may be done with areasonable amount of experimentation, and that such adaptation is notexpressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

As noted herein, a content index may have a device identifier which invarious implementations may include an implicit and/or explicitindicator used to reference the specific device at that mote. Thosehaving skill in the art will appreciate that ways in which such may beachieved include the use of a structured name. Those having skill in theart will appreciate that in some implementations mote-local devices mayalso have global addresses, which may be substituted or allowed to“stand in” for mote addresses.

II. Transmission of Mote-Associated Index Data

A. Structure(s) and/or System(s)

With reference now to FIG. 3, depicted is an exploded view of mote 300forming a part of mote-appropriate network 350 that may serve as acontext for introducing one or more processes and/or devices describedherein. Mote 300 is illustrated as similar to mote 200 (FIG. 2), butwith the addition of reporting entity 302. In some implementations,reporting entity 302 is a computer program—resident in mote 300—thatexecutes on a processor of mote 300 and that transmits all or a part ofmote-addressed sensing index 204, mote-addressed control index 206,and/or mote-addressed routing/spatial index 252 to another entity (e.g.,through antenna 102 to a multi-mote index creation agent such asshown/described in relation to FIGS. 5A-5B or through a mote—network toa designated gateway such as shown/described in relation to FIGS. 7, 9,and/or 10). In some implementations, reporting entity 302 ispre-installed on mote 300 prior to mote 300 being added to amote-appropriate network, while in other implementations reportingentity 302 crawls and/or is transmitted to mote 300 from anotherlocation (e.g., a reporting entity at another mote or another networkedcomputer (not shown) clones itself and sends that clone to mote 300).The inventors point out that in some applications the crawling and/ortransmissions described herein are performed in a piecewise fashion overtime, such as is done in the mote-appropriate Mate′ virtual machine ofthe related art. The inventors also point out that in some applicationsmotes are low-power and/or low bandwidth devices, and thus in someimplementations the crawling and/or transmissions described herein allowmany minutes (e.g., hours, days, or even weeks) for herein describedagents and/or processes to migrate to and establish themselves atvarious nodes. The same may also hold true for transmission ofinformation among nodes in that in some implementations suchtransmission may be done over the course of hours, days, or even weeksdepending upon bandwidth, power, and/or other constraints. In otherimplementations, the migrations and/or transmissions are accomplishedmore rapidly, and in some cases may be accomplished as rapidly aspossible.

B. Process(es) and/or Scheme(s)

Mote 300 of FIG. 3 can serve as a context in which one or more processesand/or devices may be illustrated. In one exemplary process, reportingentity 302 transmits at least a part of a content index to anotherentity either resident within or outside of mote network 350 (e.g.,through antenna 102 to a multi-mote index creation agent such asshown/described in relation to FIGS. 5A-5B or through a mote-network toa designated gateway-proximate mote as shown/described in relation toFIGS. 7, 9 and 10). In some implementations, reporting entity 302transmits in response to a received schedule (e.g., received frommulti-mote index creation agent 502 of FIGS. 5A-5B or federated indexcreation agent 914 of FIG. 9 or 10). In some implementations, reportingentity 302 transmits in response to a derived schedule. In anotherspecific implementation, the schedule is derived in response to one ormore optimized queries. In some implementations, the schedule is derivedin response to one or more stored queries (e.g., previously received orgenerated queries).

In some implementations, reporting entity 302 transmits in response to areceived query (e.g., received from multi-mote index creation agent ofFIGS. 5A-5B or federated index creation agent of FIG. 9 or 10). Invarious implementations, reporting entity 302 transmits using either orboth public key and private key encryption techniques. In various otherimplementations, reporting entity 302 decodes previously encrypted data,using either or both public key and private key encryption techniques,prior to the transmitting.

Referring now to FIG. 4, shown is a high-level diagram of a networkhaving a first set of motes addressed 1A through MA (M is an integergreater than 1; A is the letter A and in some instances is used hereinto help distinguish differently administered networks as in FIGS. 8, 9,and 10), which may form a context for illustrating one or more processesand/or devices described herein. Each mote is shown as having amote-addressed content index that includes a sensing index, a controlindex, and/or a routing/spatial index respectively associated with thesensing functions at each such mote, and/or control functions at eachsuch mote, and/or the spatial locations (relative and/or absolute) ofmotes that can be reached by direct transmission from each such mote. Insome implementations, the motes' various indexes are created and/orfunction in fashions similar to indexes shown and described elsewhereherein (e.g., in relation to FIG. 3). In addition, although notexplicitly shown, one or more of the motes of FIG. 4 may include indexcreation agents and/or reporting entities that are created and/orfunction in ways analogous to the creation and/or functioning of indexcreation agents and/or reporting entities as shown and describedelsewhere herein (e.g., in relation to FIGS. 2 and/or 3). In someimplementations, the reporting entities at each mote transmit all or apart of their mote-addressed content indexes (e.g., mote-addressedsensing indexes, mote-addressed control indexes, and/or mote-addressedrouting/spatial indexes) to one or more entities (e.g., multi-mote indexcreation agent 502 such as shown/described in relation to FIGS. 5A-5B ormulti-mote index creation agent 716 such as shown/described in relationto FIGS. 7, 9 and 10). In some implementations, such transmissions aredone in response to a schedule, and in other implementations suchtransmissions are done in response to queries from the one or moreentities. Such transmissions may be in response to received schedules,in response to schedules derived at least in part from optimizedqueries, in response to schedules derived at least in part from receivedqueries, and/or in response to received queries such as described hereand/or elsewhere herein.

III. Aggregating Mote-Associated Index Data

A. Structure(s) and/or System(s)

With reference now to FIGS. 5A-5B, depicted is an exploded view of mote500 forming a part of mote-appropriate network 550 that may serve as acontext for introducing one or more processes and/or devices describedherein. Mote 500 is illustrated as similar to mote 300 (FIG. 3), butwith the addition of multi-mote index creation agent 502, multi-motecontent index 504, and multi-mote registry 510 (e.g., a registry ofmotes under the aegis of multi-mote index creation agent 502 and/or fromwhich multi-mote content index 504 is to be constructed). Multi-motecontent index 504 typically contains at least a part of content indexesfrom at least two differently-addressed motes. As an example of theforegoing, multi-mote content index 504 is shown containing sensingmote-addressed indexes, mote-addressed control indexes, andmote-addressed routing/spatial indexes for two differently addressedmotes: a mote having mote-network address of 1A and a mote having amote-network address of 3A. In some implementations, the sensingindexes, control indexes, and/or routing/spatial indexes function moreor less analogously to mote-addressed sensing index 204, mote-addressedcontrol index 206, and/or mote-addressed routing/spatial index 252 ofmote 200 (e.g., as shown and described in relation to FIG. 2). In someimplementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502 is a computerprogram—resident in mote 500—that executes on a processor of mote 500and that constructs and stores multi-mote content index 504 in memory ofmote 500. In some implementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502is pre-installed on mote 500 prior to mote 500 being added to amote-appropriate network, while in other implementations multi-moteindex creation agent 502 crawls and/or is transmitted to mote 500 fromanother location (e.g., a multi-mote index creation agent at anothermote or another networked computer (not shown) clones itself and sendsthat clone to mote 500). The inventors point out that in someapplications the crawling and/or transmissions described herein areperformed in a piecewise fashion over time, such as is done in themote-appropriate Mate′ virtual machine of the related art. The inventorsalso point out that in some applications motes are low-power and/or lowbandwidth devices, and thus in some implementations the crawling and/ortransmissions described herein allow many minutes (e.g., hours, days, oreven weeks) for herein described agents and/or processes to migrate toand establish themselves at various nodes. The same may also hold truefor transmission of information among nodes in that in someimplementations such transmission may be done over the course of hours,days, or even weeks depending upon bandwidth, power, and/or otherconstraints. In other implementations, the migrations and/ortransmissions are accomplished more rapidly, and in some cases may beaccomplished as rapidly as possible.

B. Process(es) and/or Scheme(s)

Mote 500 of FIGS. 5A-5B can serve as a context in which one or moreprocesses and/or devices may be illustrated. In one exemplary process,once multi-mote index creation agent 502 has become active at mote 500,multi-mote index creation agent 502 obtains a listing of motes fromwhich multi-mote content index 504 is to be constructed (e.g., a listingof motes making up a part of mote network 550). In some implementations,multi-mote index creation agent 502 obtains the listing of motes fromwhich multi-mote content index 504 is to be constructed by communicatingwith multi-mote registry 510 to learn what mote-network addressesmulti-mote index creation agent 502 is to consult to create multi-motecontent index 504. In some implementations, various index creationagents at various respective motes (e.g., the index creation agents atthe motes of FIG. 4) register their mote addresses with multi-moteregistry 510, while in other implementations an administrator (e.g.,either at or remote from mote 500) registers the mote-addresses inmulti-mote registry 510. In some implementations, a system administratorplaces various motes under the aegis of particular multi-mote indexcreation agents based on single or combined criteria such as spatiallocations, bandwidths, qualities of service of data communication links,and/or contents of data captured at various particular nodes. In otherimplementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502 is pre-loaded withknowledge of the listing of motes from which multi-mote content index504 is to be constructed. In yet other implementations, the listing ofmotes from which multi-mote content index 504 is to be constructed isobtained from various motes that inform multi-mote index creation agent502 that such various motes are to be included in the listing. Thosehaving skill in the art will appreciate that other mechanisms forobtaining the listing, consistent with the teachings herein, may besubstituted.

In some implementations, once multi-mote index creation agent 502becomes aware of the mote-addresses for which it (multi-mote indexcreation agent 502) is responsible, multi-mote index creation agent 502communicates with the various respective reporting entities at thevarious motes for which multi-mote index creation agent 502 isresponsible and receives all or part of various respectivemote-addressed content indexes (e.g., at least a part of one or moresensing indexes, one or more control indexes, and/or one or morerouting/spatial indexes such as shown and described elsewhere).Thereafter, multi-mote index creation agent 502 uses the variousreported mote-addressed content indexes to construct and/or savemulti-mote content index 504 by aggregating at least a part ofmote-addressed content indexes from two separately addressed and/oractually separate motes. For example, multi-mote content index 504 isshown as an aggregate of sensing, control, and routing/spatial indexesfor motes having mote-network addresses of 1A and 3A, although typicallymulti-mote content indexes will index more than just two motes.

In some implementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502 receivesall or part of various respective mote-addressed content indexes fromvarious respective reporting entities at various motes which transmit inresponse to a schedule (e.g., once every 18 minutes). In someimplementations, the schedule may be received, pre-stored, and/orderived (e.g., such as shown/described in relation to othertransmissions described elsewhere herein). In addition, while thepresent application describes multi-mote index creation agent 502receiving all or part of various respective mote-addressed contentindexes from the various respective reporting entities at the variousmotes (e.g., mote 1A and/or mote 3A), those having ordinary skill in theart will appreciate that in other implementations multi-mote indexcreation agent 502 receives all or part of such indexes from one or moremotes representing the first set of motes.

In various implementations discussed herein, multi-mote index creationagent 502 receives mote-addressed content indexes transmitted byreporting entities of various motes from which multi-mote index creationagent 502 creates multi-mote content index 504. In otherimplementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502 receives one ormore previously-created multi-mote content indexes transmitted bymulti-mote reporting entities at various motes from which multi-moteindex creation agent 502 creates multi-mote content index 504. That is,in some implementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502 createsmulti-mote content index 504, at least in part, from a previouslygenerated aggregate of mote-addressed content indexes (e.g., from apreviously generated multi-mote content index). In some implementations,such received multi-mote content indexes have been created by othermulti-mote index creation agents resident at other motes throughout amote network (e.g., a mote network such as shown in FIG. 4). Subsequentto receiving such previously created multi-mote content indexes,multi-mote index creation agent 502 then aggregates the multi-motecontent indexes to form another multi-mote content index. In yet otherimplementations, multi-mote index creation agent 502 aggregates bothmote-addressed content indexes and multi-mote content indexesrespectively received from various reporting entities to create amulti-mote content index. The inventors point out that in someapplications motes are low-power and/or low bandwidth devices, and thusin some implementations the systems and processes described herein allowmany minutes (e.g., hours, days, or even weeks) for herein describedagents and processes to migrate to and establish themselves at variousnodes (e.g., by transferring their instructions in a piecewise fashionover time). The same may also hold true for transmission of informationamong nodes.

IV. Transmission of Aggregated Mote-Associated Index Data

A. Structure(s), and/or System(s)

With reference now to FIGS. 6A-6B, depicted is an exploded view of mote600 forming a part of mote-appropriate network 550 (FIGS. 5A-5B) thatmay serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/ordevices described herein. Mote 600 is illustrated as similar to mote 500(FIGS. 5A-5B), but with the addition of multi-mote reporting entity 602.In some implementations, multi-mote reporting entity 602 is a computerprogram—resident in mote 600—that executes on a processor of mote 600.In some implementations, multi-mote reporting entity 602 is a computerprogram that is pre-installed on mote 600 prior to mote 600 being addedto a mote-appropriate network, while in other implementations multi-motereporting entity 602 is a computer program that crawls and/or istransmitted to mote 600 from another location (e.g., a reporting entityat another mote or another networked computer (not shown) clones itselfand sends that clone to mote 600). The inventors point out that in someapplications the crawling and/or transmissions described herein areperformed in a piecewise fashion over time, such as is done in themote-appropriate Mate′ virtual machine of the related art. The inventorsalso point out that in some applications motes are low-power and/or lowbandwidth devices, and thus in some implementations the crawling and/ortransmissions described herein allow many minutes (e.g., hours, days, oreven weeks) for herein described agents and/or processes to migrate toand establish themselves at various nodes. The same may also hold truefor transmission of information among nodes in that in someimplementations such transmission may be done over the course of hours,days, or even weeks depending upon bandwidth, power, and/or otherconstraints. In other implementations, the migrations and/ortransmissions are accomplished more rapidly, and in some cases may beaccomplished as rapidly as possible.

Referring now to FIG. 7, shown is a high-level diagram of an explodedview of a mote-appropriate network that depicts a first set of motesaddressed 1A through MA (M is an integer greater than 1; A is the letterA and in some instances is used herein to help distinguish differentlyadministered networks as in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10), which may form anenvironment for process(es) and/or device(s) described herein. Each moteis shown as having a mote-addressed content index that includes asensing index, a control index, and/or a routing/spatial indexrespectively associated with the sensing functions of devices at eachsuch mote, and/or control functions of devices at each such mote, and/orthe spatial locations (relative and/or absolute) of motes that can bereached by direct transmission from each such mote. In someimplementations, the motes' various indexes are created and/or functionin fashions similar to mote-addressed indexes shown and described herein(e.g., in relation to FIGS. 2, 3, and/or FIG. 4). In someimplementations, the motes' various indexes are created and/or functionin fashions similar to multi-mote content indexes shown and describedherein. For example, mote 1A (i.e., mote having mote-network address 1A)and mote 6A (i.e., mote having mote-network address 6A) are shown havingmulti-mote content indexes 750 and 752 respectively. The multi-motecontent indexes are created and/or function in ways analogous to thoseshown and/or described elsewhere herein.

Mote 4A and mote MA are shown in FIG. 7 as proximate to gateways 704,706 onto WAN 714 (e.g., the Internet). Multi-mote index creation agents716, 718 are depicted as executing on the more powerful computationalsystems of gateways 704, 706 (e.g., mini and/or mainframe computersystems) to create aggregations 710, 712 of indexes. Those havingordinary skill in the art will appreciate that aggregations 710, 712 ofindexes may be composed of multi-mote content indexes and/or individualmote-addressed content indexes. Those having ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate that aggregations of multi-mote content indexes inthemselves may be considered aggregates of one or more individualmote-addressed content indexes and thus types of multi-mote contentindexes. Those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatmulti-mote content indexes in themselves may be considered aggregates ofone or more individual mote-addressed content indexes and thus types ofaggregations of content indexes.

Although not expressly shown, those having ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate that some or all of the motes shown in FIG. 7 typicallyhave reporting entities that function analogously to other reportingentities described herein (e.g., multi-mote reporting entity 602 and/orreporting entity 302). In some implementations, such reporting entitiesare computer programs that execute on processors of the motes whereinsuch reporting entities are resident and that transmit all or a part ofindexes at their motes (e.g., mote-addressed indexes and/or multi-motecontent indexes) to other entities (e.g., multi-mote index creationagents at designated mote addresses and/or designated gateway-proximatemotes). In some implementations, reporting entities are pre-installed onmotes prior to such motes' insertion to a mote-appropriate network,while in other implementations such reporting entities crawl and/or aretransmitted to their respective motes from other locations (e.g., areporting entity at another mote or another networked computer (notshown) clones itself and sends that clone to another mote). In addition,in some implementations one or more of the reporting entities is givenaccess to the content indexes of the motes and thereafter use suchaccess to report on the content of the motes. The multi-mote contentindexes and/or mote-addressed content indexes may be as shown and/ordescribed both here and elsewhere herein, and such elsewhere describedmaterial is typically not repeated here for sake of clarity

In some implementations, various reporting entities at various motestransmit in response to a schedule (e.g., once every 24 hours). In onespecific example implementation, a reporting entity transmits inresponse to a received schedule (e.g., received from multi-mote indexcreation agent 502 of FIGS. 5A-5B and/or federated index creation agent914 of FIGS. 9 and/or 10). In another specific example implementation, areporting entity transmits in response to a derived schedule. In anotherspecific implementation, the schedule is derived in response to one ormore optimized queries. In yet other implementations, the schedule isderived in response to one or more stored queries (e.g., previouslyreceived or generated queries).

In other implementations, the reporting entities transmit in response toreceived queries (e.g., received from multi-mote index creation agentsor federated index creation agents). In various implementations, thereporting entities transmit using either or both public key and privatekey encryption techniques. In various other implementations, thereporting entities decode previously encrypted data, using either orboth public key and private key encryption techniques, prior to thetransmitting.

B. Process(es) and/or Scheme(s)

With reference now again to FIGS. 5A-5B, FIGS. 6A-6B, and FIG. 7, thedepicted views may serve as a context for introducing one or moreprocesses and/or devices described herein. Some exemplary processesinclude the operation of transmitting at least a part of an aggregate ofone or more mote-addressed content indexes of a first set of motes. Inone instance, multi-mote reporting entity 602 transmits at least a partof multi-mote content index 504 to another entity (e.g., anothermulti-mote index creation agent at a designated mote address, or adesignated gateway-proximate mote or a federated index creation agentsuch as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS. 7, 9, and/or 10).Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes are representative of more general processes taughtelsewhere herein, such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewherein the present application.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of transmitting at least a part of one or more multi-motecontent indexes of the first set of motes. In one instance, multi-motereporting entity 602 transmits at least a part of at least one of amote-addressed sensing index or a mote-addressed control index ofmulti-mote content index 504 to another entity (e.g., another multi-moteindex creation agent at a designated mote address, or a designatedgateway-proximate mote or a federated index creation agent such as shownand/or described in relation to FIGS. 7, 9, and/or 10). Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processesare representative of more general processes taught elsewhere herein,such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the presentapplication.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of transmitting at least a part of a mote-addressedrouting/spatial index. In one instance, multi-mote reporting entity 602transmits at least a part of a mote-addressed muting/spatial index ofmulti-mote content index 504 to another entity (e.g., another multi-moteindex creation agent at a designated mote address, or a designatedgateway-proximate mote or a federated index creation agent such as shownand/or described in relation to FIGS. 7, 9, and/or 10). Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processesare representative of more general processes taught elsewhere herein,such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the presentapplication.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of effecting the transmitting with a reporting entity. In oneinstance, multi-mote reporting entity 602 is a logical process at mote600 that transmits a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressedcontent indexes (e.g., multi-mote indexes and/or aggregations of otherindexes such as mote-addressed and multi-mote indexes). Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processesare representative of more general processes taught elsewhere herein,such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the presentapplication.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of obtaining access to the one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of the first set of motes. In one instance, multi-mote reportingentity 602 is granted the access by an entity such as a systemadministrator. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that theforegoing specific exemplary processes are representative of moregeneral processes taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of effecting the transmitting in response to a schedule. Inone instance, multi-mote reporting entity 602 transmits at least a partof multi-mote content index 504 in response to a schedule (e.g., onceevery 24 hours). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that theforegoing specific exemplary processes are representative of moregeneral processes taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of receiving the schedule. In one instance, multi-motereporting entity 602 transmits at least a part of multi-mote contentindex 504 in response to a received schedule (e.g., received frommulti-mote index creation agent 718 and/or a federated index creationagent 914 of FIGS. 7, 9, and/or 10). Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processes arerepresentative of more general processes taught elsewhere herein, suchas in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the presentapplication.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of deriving the schedule. In one instance, multi-motereporting entity 602 transmits at least a part of multi-mote contentindex 504 in response to a derived schedule (e.g., derived in responseto an optimized query and/or one or more stored queries). Those skilledin the art will appreciate that the foregoing specific exemplaryprocesses are representative of more general processes taught elsewhereherein, such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in thepresent application.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of effecting the transmitting in response to a query. In oneinstance, multi-mote reporting entity 602 transmits at least a part ofmulti-mote content index 504 in response to a received query (e.g.,received from a multi-mote index creation agent or a federated indexcreation agent). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that theforegoing specific exemplary processes are representative of moregeneral processes taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of encrypting utilizing at least one of a private or a publickey. In one instance, multi-mote reporting entity 602 transmits at leasta part of multi-mote content index 504 using either or both public keyand private key encryption techniques. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processes arerepresentative of more general processes taught elsewhere herein, suchas in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the presentapplication.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of transmitting atleast a part of an aggregate of one or more mote-addressed contentindexes of a first set of motes includes but is not limited to theoperation of decoding at least a part of one or more mote-addressedcontent indexes utilizing at least one of a public key or a private key.In one instance, multi-mote reporting entity 602 decodes previouslyencrypted data, using either or both public key and private keyencryption techniques, prior to the transmitting of at least a part ofmulti-mote content index 504. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the foregoing specific exemplary processes are representative ofmore general processes taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claimsfiled herewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

V. Federating Mote-Associated Index Data

A. Structure(s) and/or System(s)

Referring now to FIG. 8, shown is a high-level diagram offirst-administered set 800 of motes addressed 1A through MA, andsecond-administered set 802 of motes addressed 1B through NB (M and Nare integers greater than 1; A and B are letters used herein to helpdistinguish differently administered networks as in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10)that may form an environment for process(es) and/or device(s) describedherein. In some implementations, first-administered set 800 of motesconstitutes all or part of a network under a first administrator andsecond-administered set 802 of motes constitutes all or part of anetwork under a second administrator, where the first and/or secondadministrators tend not to have any significant knowledge of theinternal operations of networks they don't administer. Examples in whichthis may be the case are where first-administered set 800 andsecond-administered set 802 are owned by different business entities,and where first-administered set 800 and second-administered set 802have been constructed for two separate purposes (e.g., one set tomonitor crops and the other set to monitor building systems, and thusthe systems were not designed to interact with each other). In someimplementations, first-administered set 800 of motes constitutes all orpart of a network under a first administrator and second-administeredset 802 of motes constitutes all or part of a network under a secondadministrator, where either or both of the first administrator and thesecond administrator has some knowledge of the networks they don'tadminister, but the networks are administered separately for any of avariety of reasons such as security, current employment, permissions,job function distinction, organizational affiliation, workloadmanagement, physical location, network disconnection, bandwidth orconnectivity differences, etc. In some implementations,first-administered set 800 of motes constitutes all or part of a networkunder a first transient administration and second-administered set 802of motes constitutes all or part of a network under a second transientadministration, where either or both the first and second transientadministrations are those such as might exist when a network partitionsor a signal is lost.

The inventors have noticed that in some instances it could beadvantageous for one or more systems to use resources fromfirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes. The inventors have devised one or more processes and/or devicesthat allow systems to use resources in such a fashion.

With reference now to FIG. 9, shown is a high-level diagram offirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes modified in accordance with teachings of subject matter describedherein. Shown respectively proximate to first-administered set 800 ofmotes and second-administered set 802 of motes are gateways 704, 706onto WAN 714. Gateways 704, 706 are respectively shown as havingresident within them multi-mote index creation agents 716, 718 andaggregations 910, 912 of first-administered set 800 of motes andsecond-administered set 802 of motes. The gateways, multi-mote indexcreation agents, and aggregations are created and/or functionsubstantially analogously to the gateways, index creation agents, andaggregations of indexes described elsewhere herein (e.g., in relation toFIGS. 6 and/or 7), and are not explicitly described here for sake ofclarity. For example, aggregation 910 of first-administered indexes andaggregation 912 of second-administered indexes can be composed of eitheror both mote-addressed and/or multi-mote content indexes and inthemselves can be considered instances of multi-mote content indexes.Furthermore, although not expressly shown in FIG. 9 for sake of clarity,it is to be understood that in general most motes will have one or moreindex creation agents (e.g., multi-mote or other type), indexes (e.g.,multi-mote or other type), and/or reporting entities (e.g., multi-moteor other type) resident within or proximate to them (see, e.g., FIG.10). In some implementations, the functioning and/or creation of suchindexes, agents, and/or entities is under the control of federated indexcreation agent 914. In some implementations, federated index creationagent 914, on an as-needed basis, disperses and/or activates variousindex creation agents and/or their associated reporting entities (e.g.,as shown and described in relation to FIGS. 2, 3, and/or 4), and/orvarious multi-mote index creation agents and/or their associatedreporting entities (e.g., as shown and described in relation to FIGS.5A-5B, 6A-6B, and/or 7) throughout first-administered set 800 of motesand second-administered set 802 of motes. In some implementations, suchdispersals and/or activations are done on an as-needed basis, while inother implementations such dispersals and activations arepre-programmed. In yet other implementations, the agents, indexes,and/or entities are pre-programmed.

Further shown in FIG. 9 are federated index creation agent 914 andfederated index 916 resident within mainframe computer system 990, whichin some implementations are dispersed, created, and/or activated infashions similar to other index creation agents and indexes describedherein. In some implementations, federated index creation agent 914generates federated index 916 by obtaining at least a part of one ormore indexes (e.g., multi-mote or mote-addressed indexes) from bothfirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes. In some implementations, federated index 916 typically includesat least a part of a content index from two differently-administeredmote networks, such as first-administered set 800 of motes andsecond-administered set 802 of motes In some implementations, federatedindex 916 has one or more entries denoting one or more respectiveadministrative domains of one or more content index entries (e.g., seefederated index 916 of FIGS. 11A-11B). In other implementations,federated index 916 has access information to one or more contentindexes for an administered content index (e.g., in someimplementations, this is actually in lieu of a content index). In otherimplementations, federated index 916 has information pertaining to acurrency of at least one entry of an administered content index. Inother implementations, federated index 916 has information pertaining toan expiration of at least one entry of an administered content index. Inother implementations, federated index 916 has metadata pertaining to anadministrative domain, wherein the metadata includes at least one of anownership indicator, an access right indicator, an index refreshindicator, or a predefined policy indicator. In other implementations,federated index 916 has an administrative domain-specific query stringgenerated for or supplied by an administrative domain to produce anupdated content index for that domain.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 9, aggregation 910 of first-administeredindex and aggregation 912 of second-administered index (e.g., instancesof multi-mote content indexes) are shown as respectively interfacingwith first-administered reporting entity 902 and second-administeredreporting entity 904. First-administered reporting entity 902 and/orsecond-administered reporting entity 904 typically are dispersed,created, and/or activated in fashions analogous to the dispersal,creation, and/or activation of other reporting entities as describedelsewhere herein (e.g., in relation to FIGS. 3 and/or 6), and hence suchdispersals, creations, and/or activations are not explicitly describedhere for sake of clarity.

In some implementations, first-administered reporting entity 902 and/orsecond-administered reporting entity 904 transmit all/part of theirrespective multi-mote content indexes to federated index creation agent914, from which federated index creation agent creates federated index916. First-administered reporting entity 902 and/or second-administeredreporting entity 904 transmit in manners analogous to reporting entitiesdiscussed elsewhere herein. For example, transmitting in response toschedules received, schedules derived, and/or queries received fromfederated index creation agent 914, and/or transmitting using either orboth public key and private key encryption techniques and/or decodingpreviously encrypted data, using either or both public key and privatekey encryption techniques, prior to the transmitting.

In the discussion of FIG. 9, federated index creation agent 914 wasdescribed as obtaining portions of aggregations of first-administeredand second-administered network indexes from which federated index 916was constructed. In other implementations, federated index creationagent 914 obtains portions of first-administered and second-administerednetwork indexes from various reporting entities dispersed throughout thefirst-administered and second-administered mote networks 802, 804 (e.g.,multi-mote or other type reporting entities such as those described inrelation to FIGS. 3, 6 and/or elsewhere herein). Such reporting entitiesand indexes are implicit in FIG. 9 (e.g., since the multi-mote creationagents 716, 718 would typically interact with such reporting entities toobtain indexes under the purview of such entities), but are explicitlyshown and described in relation to FIG. 10. In other implementations,the various reporting entities dispersed throughout the networks reportdirectly to federated index creation agent 914. One example of suchimplementations is shown and described in relation to FIG. 10.

Referring now to FIG. 10, shown is the high-level diagram of FIG. 9,modified to show first-administered set 800 of motes andsecond-administered set 802 of motes wherein each mote is illustrated ashaving index(es) (e.g., mote-addressed and/or multi-mote) and anassociated reporting entity. The reporting entities may be ofsubstantially any type described herein (e.g., multi-mote or other type)and the indexes may also be of substantially any type described herein(e.g., multi-mote or mote-addressed content indexes).

In some implementations, various reporting entities dispersed throughoutfirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes transmit all/part of their respective indexes (multi-mote orotherwise) to federated index creation agent 914, from which federatedindex creation agent creates federated index 916. The various reportingentities transmit in manners analogous to reporting entities discussedelsewhere herein. For example, transmitting in response to schedulesreceived, schedules derived, and/or queries received from federatedindex creation agent 914, and/or transmitting using either or bothpublic key and private key encryption techniques and/or decodingpreviously encrypted data, using either or both public key and privatekey encryption techniques, prior to the transmitting.

With reference now to FIGS. 11A-11B, shown is an exemplary exploded viewof federated index 916. Federated index 916 is shown to containaggregations of content indexes drawn from first-administered set 800 ofmotes and second-administered set 802 of motes. Shown is that federatedindex 916 contains aggregated sensing, control, and routing/spatialindexes for motes addressed 1A and 2A under the administration of afirst network administrator. Depicted is that federated index 916contains aggregated sensing, control, and routing/spatial indexes formotes addressed 3A and 4A under the administration of a second networkadministrator. Although aggregations for only two administered networksare shown, those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatin some implementations the number of administered networks indexedcould be several. In addition, although each individualadministrator-specific aggregation is shown containing entries for onlythree motes, those having skill in the art will appreciate that in mostimplementations the number of motes in the aggregations will run to thehundreds, thousands, and/or higher.

B. Process(es) and/or Scheme(s)

With reference now again to FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 10, and/orFIGS. 11A-11B, the depicted views may serve as a context for introducingone or more processes and/or devices described herein. Some exemplaryprocesses include the operations of obtaining at least a part of afirst-administered content index from a first set of motes; obtaining atleast a part of a second-administered content index from a second set ofmotes; and creating a federated index from at least a part of thefirst-administered content index and at least a part of thesecond-administered content index. Other more general exemplaryprocesses of the foregoing specific exemplary processes are taught atleast in the claims and/or elsewhere in the present application.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of obtaining atleast a part of a first-administered content index from a first set ofmotes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving at leasta part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the first set ofmotes. For example, federated index creation agent 914 receiving atleast a part of the multi-mote content index of mote 6A (e.g., such asshown and described in relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10, and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the first setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from at least one aggregation of one ormore first-administered indexes. For example, federated index creationagent 914 receiving at least a part of aggregation of first-administeredindex(es) 910 as transmitted by first-administered reporting entity 902for first-administered set 800 of motes (e.g., as shown and/or describedin relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the first setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of a mote-addressed routing/spatial index from at least oneaggregation of one or more first-administered indexes. For example,federated index creation agent 914 receiving at least a part ofaggregation of first-administered index(es) 910 as transmitted byfirst-administered reporting entity 902 for first-administered set 800of motes (e.g., as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9,10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the first setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from a multi-mote reporting entity at amote of the first set of motes. For example, federated index creationagent 914 receiving at least a part of one or more multi-mote contentindexes of first-administered set 800 of motes from one or moremulti-mote content indexes' associated multi-mote reporting entities(e.g., such as shown and/or described in relation to the multi-motecontent indexes and/or associated reporting entities offirst-administered set 800 of motes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the first setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of a mote-addressed routing/spatial index from a multi-motereporting entity at a mote of the first set of motes. For example,federated index creation agent 914 receiving at least a part of amote-addressed routing/spatial index from a multi-mote reporting entityat a mote of the first-administered set 800 of motes (e.g., such asshown and/or described in relation to the multi-mote content index ofmote 6A of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of obtaining atleast a part of a first-administered content index from a first set ofmotes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving at leasta part of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from a reporting entity at a mote of thefirst set of motes. For example, federated index creation agent 914receiving at least a part of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from one or more associated reportingentities at the motes of first-administered set 800 of motes (e.g., suchas shown and/or described in relation the mote-addressed content indexesof motes 3A and/or 5A of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of obtaining atleast a part of a first-administered content index from a first set ofmotes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving at leasta part of a mote-addressed routing/spatial index from a reporting entityat a mote of the first set of motes. For example, federated indexcreation agent 914 receiving at least a part of a mote-addressedrouting/spatial index from one or more associated reporting entities atthe motes of first-administered set 800 of motes (e.g., such as shownand/or described in relation to the mote-addressed content indexes ofmotes 3A and/or 5A of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of obtaining atleast a part of a second-administered content index from a second set ofmotes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving at leasta part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the second set ofmotes. For example, federated index creation agent 914 receiving atleast a part of the multi-mote content index associated with a mote ofsecond-administered set 802 of motes (e.g., such as shown and/ordescribed in relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10, and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the second setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from at least one aggregation of one ormore second-administered indexes. For example, federated index creationagent 914 receiving at least a part of aggregation ofsecond-administered index(es) 912 as transmitted by second-administeredreporting entity 904 for second-administered set 802 of motes (e.g., asshown and/or described in relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the second setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of a mote-addressed routing/spatial index from at least oneaggregation of one or more second-administered indexes. For example,federated index creation agent 914 receiving at least a part ofaggregation of second-administered index(es) 912 transmitted bysecond-administered reporting entity 904 for second-administered set 802of motes (e.g., as shown and described in relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the second setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from a multi-mote reporting entity at amote of the second set of motes. For example, federated index creationagent 914 receiving at least a part of one or more multi-mote contentindexes of second-administered set 802 of motes from one or moremulti-mote content indexes' associated multi-mote reporting entities(e.g., such as shown and described in relation to the multi-mote contentindexes and/or reporting entities of second-administered set 802 ofmotes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of receiving atleast a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes of the second setof motes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving atleast a part of a mote-addressed routing/spatial index from a multi-motereporting entity at a mote of the second set of motes. For example,federated index creation agent 914 receiving at least a part of amote-addressed routing/spatial index from a multi-mote reporting entityat a mote of the second-administered set 802 of motes from an associatedmulti-mote reporting entity (e.g., such as shown and described inrelation to the multi-mote content indexes and/or reporting entities ofsecond-administered set 802 of motes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of obtaining atleast a part of a second-administered content index from a second set ofmotes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving at leasta part of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from a reporting entity at a mote of thesecond set of motes. For example, federated index creation agent 914receiving at least a part of a mote-addressed sensing index or amote-addressed control index from one or more associated reportingentities at the motes of second-administered set 802 of motes (e.g.,such as shown and described in relation the mote-addressed contentindexes and associated reporting entities of second-administered set 802of motes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of obtaining atleast a part of a second-administered content index from a second set ofmotes includes but is not limited to the operation of receiving at leasta part of a mote-addressed routing/spatial index from a reporting entityat a mote of the second set of motes. For example, federated indexcreation agent 914 receiving at least a part of a mote-addressedrouting/spatial index from one or more associated reporting entities atthe motes of second-administered set 802 of motes (e.g., such as shownand described in relation the mote-addressed content indexes ofsecond-administered set 802 of motes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10, and/or11A-11B).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of creating afederated index from at least a part of the first-administered contentindex and at least a part of the second-administered content indexincludes the operation of federated index creation agent 914 generatingfederated index 916 in response to one or more indexes (e.g., multi-moteand/or mote-addressed indexes) obtained from both the first-administeredset 800 of motes and the second-administered set 802 of motes. In someimplementations, federated index creation agent 914 creates federatedindex 916 to include at least a part of a content index from twodifferently-administered mote networks, such as first administered set800 of motes and second administered set 802 of motes (see, e.g.,federated index 916 of FIGS. 11A-11B). In some implementations,federated index creation agent 914 creates federated index 916 toinclude one or more entries denoting one or more respectiveadministrative domains of one or more content index entries (e.g., seefederated index 916 of FIGS. 11A-11B). In other implementations,federated index creation agent 914 creates federated index 916 toinclude access information to one or more content indexes for anadministered content index (e.g., in some implementations, this isactually in lieu of a content index). In other implementations,federated index creation agent 914 creates federated index 916 toinclude information pertaining to a currency of at least one entry of anadministered content index. In other implementations, federated indexcreation agent 914 creates federated index 916 to include informationpertaining to an expiration of at least one entry of an administeredcontent index. In other implementations, federated index creation agent914 creates federated index 916 to include metadata pertaining to anadministrative domain, wherein the metadata includes at least one of anownership indicator, an access right indicator, an index refreshindicator, or a predefined policy indicator. In other implementations,federated index creation agent 914 creates federated index 916 toinclude an administrative domain-specific query string generated for orsupplied by an administrative domain to produce an updated content indexfor that domain.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operation of creating afederated index from at least a part of the first-administered contentindex and at least a part of the second-administered content indexincludes but is not limited to the operations of creating the federatedindex from at least a part of one or more multi-mote content indexes ofthe first set of motes; creating the federated index from at least apart of at least one of a mote-addressed sensing index, a mote-addressedcontrol index, or a mote-addressed muting index/spatial index of thefirst set of motes; creating the federated index from at least a part ofone or more multi-mote content indexes of the second set of motes;and/or creating the federated index from at least a part of at least oneof a mote-addressed sensing index, a mote-addressed control index, or amote-addressed routing index/spatial index of the second set of motes.For example, federated index creation agent 914 creating at least a partof federated index 916 in response to portions of multi-mote contentindexes (e.g., multi-mote indexes and/or aggregations of indexes)received from reporting entities associated with first administered set800 of motes and/or second-administered set 802 of motes (e.g., such asshown and described in relation to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or 11A-11B).

With reference now again to FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 10, and/orFIGS. 11A-11B, the depicted views may yet again serve as a context forintroducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. Somespecific exemplary processes include the operations of creating one ormore first-administered content indexes for a first set of motes;obtaining at least a part of the one or more first administered contentindexes of the first set of motes; creating one or more secondadministered content indexes for a second set of motes; obtaining atleast a part of the second-administered content indexes of the secondset of motes; and creating a federated index from at least a part of theone or more first-administered content indexes and at least a part ofthe one or more second-administered content indexes.

In some specific exemplary processes, the operations of creating one ormore first-administered content indexes for a first set of motes andcreating one or more second-administered content indexes for a secondset of motes function substantially analogously as the processesdescribed in creating mote-addressed content indexes, mote-addressedindexes, and aggregations of indexes as set forth elsewhere herein(e.g., such as shown and/or described under Roman Numeral headings I(“MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX CREATION”), III (“AGGREGATING MOTE-ASSOCIATEDINDEX DATA”), and V (“FEDERATING MOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX DATA”), above, aswell as in the as-filed claims). Accordingly, the specific exemplaryprocesses of the operations of creating one or more first-administeredcontent indexes for a first set of motes and creating one or moresecond-administered content indexes for a second set of motes are notexplicitly redescribed here for sake of clarity, in that such specificexemplary processes will be apparent to one of skill in the art in lightof the disclosure herein (e.g., as shown and described under RomanNumeral headings I, III, and V, above, as well as in the as-filedclaims).

In some specific exemplary processes, the operations of obtaining atleast a part of the one or more first-administered content indexes ofthe first set of motes; obtaining at least a part of thesecond-administered content indexes of the second set of motes; andcreating a federated index from at least a part of the one or morefirst-administered content indexes and at least a part of the one ormore second-administered content indexes function substantiallyanalogously as to like processes described elsewhere herein (e.g., asshown and described under Roman Numeral heading V (“FEDERATINGMOTE-ASSOCIATED INDEX DATA”), above, as well as in the as-filed claims).Accordingly, the specific exemplary processes of the operations ofobtaining at least a part of the one or more first-administered contentindexes of the first set of motes; obtaining at least a part of thesecond-administered content indexes of the second set of motes; andcreating a federated index from at least a part of the one or morefirst-administered content indexes and at least a part of the one ormore second-administered content indexes are not explicitly redescribedhere for sake of clarity, in that such specific exemplary processes willbe apparent to one of skill in the art in light of the disclosure herein(e.g., as shown and described under Roman Numeral heading V, above, aswell as in the as-filed claims).

VI. Using Mote-Associated Indexes

Referring now to FIG. 12, depicted is a perspective cut-away view of ahallway that may form an environment of processes and/or devicesdescribed herein. Wall 1200 and floor 1202 are illustrated as havingmotes (depicted as circles and/or ovals). Typically, the motes may be asdescribed elsewhere herein (e.g., mote 200, 300, 500, and/or 600, etc.).In some instances, the motes are applied to wall 1200 and/or floor 1202with an adhesive. In other instances, the motes are formed into 1200and/or floor 1202 during fabrication. In other instances, a covering forthe wall (e.g., wallpaper and/or paint) contains motes that are appliedto 1200 and/or floor 1202.

With reference now to FIGS. 13, 14, and 15, shown are threetime-sequenced views of a person transiting wall 1200 and floor 1202 ofthe hallway of FIG. 12. FIG. 13 shows the position of the person attime=t_1. FIG. 14 shows the position of the person at time=t_2. FIG. 15shows the position of the person at time=t_3.

Referring now to FIG. 16, depicted is a perspective view of the hallwayof FIG. 12, modified in accord with aspects of the subject matterdescribed herein. Illustrated is that the motes of wall 1200 may betreated as a first set 400 of motes that function and/or are structuredin fashions analogous to first set 400 of motes shown/describedelsewhere herein (e.g., in relation to FIGS. 4-7) and/or asshown/described here. Accordingly, antenna 1602 is shown proximate towall 1200 and feeding gateway 704 onto WAN 714. Multi-mote indexcreation agent 716 is depicted as executing on the more powerfulcomputational systems of gateway 704 (e.g., a mini and/or mainframecomputer system) to create aggregation 710 of content indexes. Gateway704, multi-mote index creation agent 716, and aggregation 710 of contentindexes function and/or are structured analogously as describedelsewhere herein, and are not expressly re-described here for sake ofclarity.

With reference now to FIG. 17, illustrated is that first set 400 of thephysical motes of wall 1200 may be treated as mapped into a conceptualx-y coordinate system. The mapping into the conceptual x-y coordinatesystem may be used to illustrate how a multi-mote content index oraggregation of content indexes can be used to advantage. Those havingskill in the art will appreciate that in some instances, the mappingwill typically be into a three-space coordinate system (e.g., x-y-z),but that a two-space (e.g., x-y) example is described herein for sake ofclarity. In addition, although rectilinear coordinate systems aredescribed herein, those having skill in the art will appreciate thatother coordinate systems (e.g., spherical, cylindrical, circular, etc.)may be substituted consistent with the teachers herein.

Referring now to FIG. 18, shown is a partially schematic diagram thatpictographically illustrates the coordinating of the conceptual mappingof the motes of wall 1200 with the indexes of first set 400 of the motesof wall 1200. Specifically, depicted in FIG. 18 is that the mapping ofthe physical motes as shown in FIG. 17 can be abstracted into motecontent indexes. (This abstraction is illustrated in FIG. 18 by thedashed lines indicating the motes.) The mote content indexes can be usedto “stand in” for or “represent” capabilities of various motes withinthe first set 400 of motes, and can be managed and/or searched usinghigh speed computer systems.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are many techniquessuitable for managing/searching mote content indexes of first set 400 ofmotes. Examples of such techniques are database techniques such as thoseassociated with Structured Query Language (SQL) systems.

With reference now to FIGS. 19, 20, and 21 shown are time-stampedversions of subset 1900 of aggregation 710 associated with the state offirst set 400 of motes. With reference now to FIG. 19, and assuming forsake of illustration that the input-defined mote-appropriate task isinfrared image detection, depicted is subset 1900 of aggregation 710 attime=t_1 that shows those motes whose indexes indicate that they arecapable of detecting a visible light image of the person transiting wall1200 at time=t_1. Referring now to FIG. 20, illustrated is subset 1900of aggregation 710 at time=t_2 that shows those motes whose indexesindicate that they are capable of detecting a visible light image of theperson transiting wall 1200 at time=t_2. With reference now to FIG. 21,shown is subset 1900 of aggregation 710 at time=t_3 that shows thosemotes whose indexes indicate that they are capable of detecting avisible light image of the person transiting wall 1200 at time=t_3. Ascan be seen, subset 1900 contains indications of different motes at thedifferent times; those skilled in the art will also recognize that insome implementations the number/location of motes will remain relativelyconstant over time. Those having skill in the art will appreciate thatin practice subset 1900 of aggregation 710 will generally be in the formof nested data structures and that the pictographic representations ofhow the person would “appear” in FIGS. 19, 20, and 21 are used hereinfor sake of clarity.

As described elsewhere herein (e.g., in relation to FIGS. 1 and 2),motes can include any number of devices whose information capabilitiescan be captured in aggregates of content indexes (e.g., aggregation 710of content indexes). Accordingly, aggregation 710 allows flexible andpowerful searching techniques, a few of which will now be described.

Following are a series of flowcharts depicting embodiments of processes.For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that theinitial flowcharts present embodiments via an overall “big picture”viewpoint and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternateembodiments and/or expansions of the “big picture” flowcharts as eithersub-steps or additional steps building on one or more earlier-presentedflowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the styleof presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation ofa flowchart(s) presenting an overall view and thereafter providingadditions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generallyallows for a rapid and efficient understanding of the various processinstances.

Referring now to FIG. 22, depicted is a high-level logic flowchart of aprocess. Method step 2200 shows the start of the process. Method step2202 depicts accepting input defining a mote-appropriate network task.Method step 2204 depicts searching at least one mote-addressed contentindex in response to said input. Method step 2206 shows the end of theprocess.

With reference now to FIG. 23, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 22. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 2202 includes method step 2300. Method step2300 shows accepting a visual-task input. Specific exampleimplementations of method step 2300 are as shown/described in relationto substantially analogous method step 3600 of FIG. 36, and are notexpressly described here for sake of clarity.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 23, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 22. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 2202 includes method step 2302. Method step2302 shows accepting at least one of an infrared-task input or atemperature-task input. Specific example implementations of method step2302 are as shown/described in relation to substantially analogousmethod step 3602 of FIG. 36.

With reference now again to FIG. 23, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 22. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 2202 includes method step 2304. Method step2304 shows accepting a pressure-task input. Specific exampleimplementations of method step 2304 are as shown/described in relationto substantially analogous method step 3604 of FIG. 36, and are notexpressly described here for sake of clarity.

With reference now again to FIG. 23, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 22. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 2202 includes method step 2306. Method step2306 shows accepting a sonic-task input. Specific exampleimplementations of method step 2306 are as shown/described in relationto substantially analogous method step 3606 of FIG. 36, and are notexpressly described here for sake of clarity.

Referring now to FIG. 24, illustrated is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 22. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 2204 includes method step 2400. Method step 2400 showssearching a time series of at least two content indexes. In variousexemplary implementations, electrical circuitry successively searches atime series of content indexes for motes capable of gathering variousdefined types of information related to various specifiedmote-appropriate network tasks. In some specific implementations such asthose used in security, electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitryforming a processor configured by a program to perform various tasks)searches a time series of content indexes for motes capable of capturinginformation related to a specified mote-appropriate network task (e.g.,searching one or more content indexes of subset 1900 of aggregation 710at time=t_1 (FIG. 19), at time=t_2 (FIG. 20), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 21)for one or more motes capable of tracking a person's progress throughthe hallway such as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS. 13, 14,and 15). In some implementations such as those used in criminalinvestigations, electrical circuitry searches a time series of federatedindexes for motes having a capability(ies) to detect particular patternof sound over time (e.g., searching the time series for motes capable ofdetecting a pattern of sound a gunshot would make in subset 1900 ofaggregation 710 at time=t_1 (FIG. 19), at time=t_2 (FIG. 20), and attime=t_3 (FIG. 21) if a gun were to be fired in the hallway of FIG. 12).Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many other searches may beperformed, dependent upon the accepted input defining themote-appropriate search of method step 2202.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 24, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation method step 2204 includes method step 2402. Method step2402 shows searching at least one multi-mote content index having the atleast one mote-addressed content index. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry searches at least one multi-motecontent index having the at least one mote-addressed content index. Insome specific implementations such as those used in security, electricalcircuitry searches one or more multi-mote content indexes, over time, inresponse to the defined mote-appropriate network task (e.g., electricalcircuitry searching one or more multi-mote content indexes forindications of motes having capabilities to monitor a patient's heartfor sounds indicative of arrhythmia). In some implementations such asthose used in aviation maintenance, electrical circuitry searches one ormore multi-mote content indexes, over time, in response to a definedmote-appropriate network task (e.g., electrical circuitry searching oneor more multi-mote content indexes for indications of motes havingcapabilities monitor a defined area of aviation equipment, such as a jetengine, for sounds indicative of motor failure, in response to a searchrequesting that the indexes be so searched). Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that many other searches may be performed, dependentupon the accepted input defining the mote-appropriate network task ofmethod step 2202.

With reference now to FIG. 25, shown is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 24. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 2402 includes method step 2500. Method step 2500 showssearching a time series of at least two multi-mote indexes, the timeseries including the at least one multi-mote content index having the atleast one mote-addressed content index. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry successively searches a timeseries of at least two multi-mote indexes, the time series including theat least one multi-mote content index having the at least onemote-addressed content index for motes capable of gathering variousdefined types of information appropriate to the mote-appropriate networktask. In some specific implementations such as those used in security,electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry forming a processorconfigured by a program to perform various tasks) searches time seriesof at least two multi-mote indexes, the time series including the atleast one multi-mote content index having the at least onemote-addressed content index for motes capable of capturing an image invisible light (e.g., searching one or more content indexes of subset1900 of aggregation 710 at time=t_1 (FIG. 19), at time=t_2 (FIG. 20),and at time=t_3 (FIG. 21) in order to identify motes that have visiblelight capabilities appropriate to track a person's progress through thehallway such as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS. 13, 14, and15). In some implementations such as those used in criminalinvestigations, electrical circuitry searches a time series of one ormore multi-mote content indexes of federated content index 916 for motescapable of identifying a particular pattern or characteristic of soundover time (e.g., the pattern of sound or acoustic signature a gunshotwould make in subset 1900 of aggregation 710 at time=t_1 (FIG. 19), attime=t_2 (FIG. 20), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 21) if a gun were to be firedin the hallway of FIG. 12). Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat many other searches may be performed, dependent upon the acceptedinput defining the mote-appropriate network task of method step 2202.

Referring now again to FIG. 24, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation method step 2204 includes method step 2404. Method step2404 shows searching at least one aggregation of content indexes, theaggregation having the at least one mote-addressed content index. Invarious exemplary implementations, electrical circuitry searches the atleast one aggregation of content indexes, the aggregation having the atleast one mote-addressed content index. In some specific implementationssuch as those used in security, electrical circuitry (e.g., electricalcircuitry forming a processor configured by a program to perform varioustasks) searches the at least one aggregation of content indexes, theaggregation having the at least one mote-addressed content index, formotes capable of capturing an image in the visible light spectrum (e.g.,searching subset 1900 of aggregation 710 of content indexes at time=t_1(FIG. 19)) for one or more motes capable of determining if a person wasin front of wall 1200 at some time=t_1 as shown and/or described inrelation to FIG. 13). In some implementations such as those used incriminal investigations, electrical circuitry searches the at least oneaggregation of content indexes, the aggregation having the at least onemote-addressed content index, for motes having capability(ies) to detecta particular sound at a particular time (e.g., a certain sound presentin subset 1900 of aggregation 710 at time=t_1 (FIG. 19)). Those skilledin the art will appreciate that many other searches may be performed,dependent upon the accepted input defining the mote-appropriate searchof method step 2202.

With reference now to FIG. 26, shown is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 25. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 2404 includes method step 2600. Method step 2600 illustratessearching a time series of at least two aggregations of content indexes,the time series including the at least one aggregation of contentindexes. In various exemplary implementations, electrical circuitrysearches a time series of at least two aggregations of content indexes,the time series including the at least one aggregation of contentindexes. In some specific implementations such as those used insecurity, electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry forming aprocessor configured by a program to perform various tasks) searches thetime series of at least two aggregations of content indexes, the timeseries including the at least one aggregation of content indexes, formotes capable of capturing an image in the visible light spectrum (e.g.,searching one or more content indexes of subset 1900 of aggregation 710at time=t_1 (FIG. 19), at time=t_2 (FIG. 20), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 21)for one or more motes capable of tracking a person's progress throughthe hallway such as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS. 13, 14,and 15). In some implementations such as those used in criminalinvestigations, electrical circuitry searches the time series of atleast two aggregations of content indexes, the time series including theat least one aggregation of content indexes, for motes havingcapability(ies) to detect a particular sound at a particular time (e.g.,searching subset 1900 of aggregation 710 at time=t_1 (FIG. 19), attime=t_2 (FIG. 20), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 21) for indications of motescapable of detecting the sound a gun would make if a gun were to befired in the hallway of FIG. 12). Those skilled in the art willappreciate that many other searches may be performed, dependent upon theaccepted input defining the mote-appropriate search of method step 2202.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 26, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 2404 includes method step 2602. Method step2602 illustrates searching at least one mote-addressed content index ofthe at least one aggregation of content indexes. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry is used to effect the searching atleast one mote-addressed content index of the at least one aggregationof content indexes. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manyother searches may be performed, dependent upon the accepted inputdefining the mote-appropriate search of method step 2202.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 26, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 2404 includes method step 2604. Method step2604 illustrates searching at least one multi-mote content index of theat least one aggregation of content indexes. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry is used to effect the searching atleast one multi-mote content index of the at least one aggregation ofcontent indexes. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manyother searches may be performed, dependent upon the accepted inputdefining the mote-appropriate search of method step 2202.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some implementations,the searching described in relation to various processes herein (e.g.,such as those shown/described in relation to FIGS. 22-26) is performedon mote-addressed content indexes, multi-mote content indexes, and/oraggregations of content indexes loaded to computer systems external to amote-appropriate network. For example, searching using computer systemssuch as shown/described in relation to gateway 704, which can include,for example, one or more of a notebook computer system, minicomputersystem, server computer system, and/or a mainframe computer system.Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that in otherimplementations the searching described in relation to various processesherein (e.g., such as those shown/described in relation to FIGS. 22-26)is performed in whole or in part on motes of a mote-appropriate network.Those skilled in the art will also recognize that the approachesdescribed herein are not limited to accepting an input of a single kindand that the searching may be refined using a combination of inputs,such as a visual definition input combined with a sonic definitioninput. When combined, the searching logic may correlate the processestemporally or the searches may be combined independently of relativetime references. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that inother implementations the searching described in relation to variousprocesses herein (e.g., such as those shown/described in relation toFIGS. 22-26) is performed in other computer systems consistent with theteachings herein.

VII. Using Federated Mote-Associated Indexes

With reference now to FIG. 27, illustrated is the perspective cut-awayview of the hallway of FIG. 12 modified in accord with aspects of thesubject matter described herein. Illustrated is that the motes of wall1200 may be partitioned into first-administered set 800 of motes andsecond-administered set 802 of motes analogous to the first-administeredset 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 of motesshown/described elsewhere herein (e.g., in relation to FIGS. 10-13).Antenna 2700 is shown proximate to first-administered set 800 of motesand shown feeding gateway 704 onto WAN 714. Multi-mote index creationagent 716 is depicted as executing on the more powerful computationalsystem(s) of gateway 704 (e.g., a mini and/or a mainframe computersystem) to create aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes.First-administered reporting entity 902 is illustrated as executing ongateway 704. Gateway 704, multi-mote index creation agent 716,aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes, andfirst-administered reporting entity 902 function and/or are structuredin fashions analogous to those described here and/or elsewhere herein.

Antenna 2702 is shown proximate to second-administered set 802 of motesand feeding gateway 706 onto WAN 714. Multi-mote index creation agent718 is depicted as executing on the more powerful computationalsystem(s) of gateway 706 (e.g., a mini and/or a mainframe computersystem) to create aggregation 912 of second-administered contentindexes. Second-administered reporting entity 904 is illustrated asexecuting on gateway 706. Gateway 706, multi-mote index creation agent718, aggregation 912 of second-administered content indexes, andsecond-administered reporting entity 904 function and/or are structuredin fashions analogous to those described here and/or elsewhere herein.

In some implementations, frequency re-use techniques are utilized acrossfirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes. For instance, first-administered set 800 of motes operating on oraround a first carrier frequency and second-administered set 802 ofmotes operating on or around a second carrier frequency. Accordingly, insome implementations antenna 2700 is tuned to a carrier frequency offirst-administered set 800 of motes and antenna 2702 is tuned to acarrier frequency of second-administered set 802 of motes. In otherimplementations, frequency re-use techniques are not used acrossfirst-administered set 800 of motes and second-administered set 802 ofmotes (e.g., the differently administered networks use differentaddressing spaces and/or proximities to provide for the separate networkadministrations).

Further shown in FIG. 27 are federated index creation agent 914 andfederated content index 916 resident within mainframe computer system990. Federated index creation agent 914, federated content index 916,and mainframe computer system 990 function and/or are structured infashions analogous to those described here and/or elsewhere herein.

Referring now to FIG. 28, shown is that first-administered set 800 andsecond-administered set 802 of the physical motes of wall 1200 may betreated as mapped into a conceptual x-y coordinate system. The mappinginto the conceptual x-y coordinate system may be used to illustrate howa multi-mote content index or aggregation of content indexes (e.g., suchas those forming at least a part of federated content index 916) can beused to advantage. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that insome instances, the mapping will typically be into a three-spacecoordinate system (e.g., x-y-z), but that a two-space (e.g., x-y)example is described herein for sake of clarity. In addition, althoughrectilinear coordinate systems are described herein, those having skillin the art will appreciate that other coordinate systems (e.g.,spherical, cylindrical, circular, etc.) may be substituted consistentwith the teachings herein.

With reference now to FIG. 29, shown is a partially schematic diagramthat pictographically illustrates the coordinating of the conceptualmapping of the motes of wall 1200 with indexes of first-administered set800 and second-administered set 802 of the physical motes of wall 1200.(This abstraction is illustrated in FIG. 29 by the dashed linesindicating the motes.) Specifically, depicted in FIG. 29 is that themapping of the physical motes shown in FIG. 28 can be abstracted intoaggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes and createaggregation 912 of second-administered content indexes. So abstracted,the mote content indexes can be used to “stand in” for or “represent”first-administered set 800 and/or second-administered set 802 of thephysical motes of wall 1200, and can be independently and/or jointlymanaged and/or searched using high speed computer systems.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are many techniquessuitable for managing/searching mote content indexes offirst-administered set 800 and/or second-administered set 802 of thephysical motes of wall 1200. Examples of such techniques are databasetechniques such as those associated with relational database and/or SQLsystems.

As described following in relation to FIGS. 35-47, some processimplementations include but are not limited to accepting input defininga mote-appropriate network task; searching at least one federated indexin response to said accepted input; and presenting an indication ofmotes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task. (Severalspecific implementations are shown/described below in relation to FIG.35-47.) One advantage of such process implementations is that ininstances where an entity defining the mote-appropriate task hasrelatively scant knowledge of motes in one or more mote-appropriatenetworks, such process implementations will allow the entity to discovernetwork resources applicable to defined mote-appropriate tasks. Forexample, in an implementation where the mote-appropriate task isinformation capture using light, some process implementations wouldindicate which motes have visible-light capabilities (e.g., having lightdevice 140 as described herein). In an implementation where themote-appropriate task is information capture using electrical/magneticquantities, some process implementations would indicate which motes haveelectrical/magnetic capabilities (e.g., electrical/magnetic device 140as described herein). In an implementation where the mote-appropriatetask is information capture using pressure, some process implementationswould indicate which motes have pressure capabilities (e.g., pressuredevice 144 as described herein). In an implementation where themote-appropriate task is information capture using temperature, someprocess implementations would indicate which motes have temperaturecapabilities (e.g., temperature device 156 as described herein). In animplementation where the mote-appropriate task is information captureusing volume, some process implementations would indicate which moteshave temperature capabilities (e.g., volume device 158 as describedherein). In an implementation where the mote-appropriate task isinformation capture using inertial measures, some processimplementations would indicate which motes have inertial capabilities(e.g., inertial device 160 as described herein). Those skilled in theart will appreciate that similar results would hold true for other typesof information capture consonant with the teachings set forth herein.

Referring now to FIG. 30 shown are time-stamped versions of subset 3010of aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes associated withthe state of first-administered set 800 of motes, where subset 3010represents motes indicated as appropriate to the input defining themote-appropriate network task (e.g., image capture in infrared). Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that subset 3010 is shown containingless than all the motes of aggregation 910, as will often be the case,since typically not all motes will have capabilities appropriate to thedefined mote-appropriate network task; however, in some instances subset3010 will contain all motes of aggregation 910. The left-lower portionof FIG. 30 depicts subset 3010 of aggregation 910 of first-administeredcontent indexes at time=t_1 and indicates those motes that havecapabilities appropriate to the defined mote-appropriate network task(e.g., are capable of detecting an infrared image of the persontransiting wall 1200 at time=t_1). The middle-most portion of FIG. 30illustrates subset 3010 of aggregation 910 of first-administered contentindexes at time=t_2 and indicates those motes that have capabilitiesappropriate to the defined mote-appropriate network task (e.g., arecapable of detecting an infrared image of the person transiting wall1200 at time=t_2). The upper right portion of FIG. 30 shows subset 3010of aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes at time=t_3 andindicates those motes that have capabilities appropriate to the definedmote-appropriate network task (e.g., are capable of detecting aninfrared image of the person transiting wall 1200 at time=t_3). Thosehaving skill in the art will appreciate that in practice subset 3010 ofaggregation 910 of first-administered content logs will generally be inthe form of nested data structures and that the pictographicrepresentations of how the person would be detected in FIG. 30 are usedherein for sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art will also recognizethat, in many instances, the number and/or locations of motes in subset3010 will vary over time (e.g., not all infrared sensors might beavailable/active at all times), even though subset 3010 is shown ascontaining the same motes at times t_1, t_2, and t_3 for sake ofclarity.

With reference now to FIG. 31, depicted are time-stamped versions ofsubset 3112 of aggregation 912 of second-administered content logsassociated with the state of second-administered set 802 of motes, wheresubset 3112 represents motes indicated as appropriate to the inputdefining the mote-appropriate network task (e.g., image capture ininfrared). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that subset 3112 isshown containing less than all the motes of aggregation 912, as willoften be the case, since typically not all motes will have capabilitiesappropriate to the input-defined mote-appropriate network task; however,in some instances subset 3112 will contain all motes of aggregation 912.The left portion of FIG. 31 depicts subset 3112 of aggregation 912 ofsecond-administered content indexes at time=t_1 and indicates thosemotes that have capabilities appropriate to the defined mote-appropriatenetwork task (e.g., are capable of detecting an infrared image of theperson transiting wall 1200 at time=t_1. The middle portion of FIG. 31illustrates subset 3112 of aggregation 912 of second-administeredcontent indexes at time=t_2 and indicates those motes that havecapabilities appropriate to the defined mote-appropriate network task(e.g., are capable of detecting an infrared image of the persontransiting wall 1200 at time=t_2. The upper portion of FIG. 31 showssubset 3112 aggregation 912 of second-administered content indexes attime=t_3 and indicates those motes that have capabilities appropriate tothe defined mote-appropriate network task (e.g., are capable ofdetecting an infrared image of the person transiting wall 1200 attime=t_3. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that in practicesubset 3112 aggregation 912 of second-administered content indexes willgenerally be in the form of nested data structures and that thepictographic representations of how the person would be detected in FIG.31 are used herein for sake of clarity.

Referring now to FIG. 30 and FIG. 31, note that when the person iswithin the bounds of first-administered set 800 of motes—at time=t_1—theperson does not “appear” in the content indexes representing subset 3112of second-administered set 802 of motes (e.g., indexes of aggregation912 of second-administered content indexes). Note also that when theperson is within the bounds of second-administered set 802 of motes attimes t_2 and t_3, the person does not “appear” in the content indexesrepresenting subset 3010 of first-administered set 800 of motes (e.g.,indexes of aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes). Thosehaving skill in the art will appreciate that this is indicative ofreduced power and/or other reduced resource consumption. Morespecifically, in some implementations such as those described, sinceprocess allows knowledge of capabilities at various times, indexsearching and/or mote activation routines can avoid searching and/orcommunicating with those indexes and/or motes that are not available attimes in question. Thus, one advantage of the techniques describedherein is that they allow use of mote networks to track large and/ordense subject matter domains with less resource utilization (e.g., lesspower consumption such as that associated with less transmission, lessreception, and/or less searching).

With reference now to FIGS. 32, 33, and 34, illustrated are differentversions of federated content index 916 drawn on subset 3010 offirst-administered set 800 of motes and subset 3112 ofsecond-administered set 802 of motes. With reference now to FIG. 32, andassuming for sake of illustration that the input-definedmote-appropriate task is infrared image detection, depicted is federatedcontent index 916 at time=t_1 that shows those motes that are capable ofdetecting an infrared image of the person transiting wall 1200 attime=t_1. Federated content index 916 at time=t_1 is shown composed ofsubset 3010 of aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes attime=t_1 (FIG. 30) and subset 3112 of aggregation 912 ofsecond-administered content indexes at time=t_1 (FIG. 31). Referring nowto FIG. 33, depicted is federated content index 916 at time=t_2 thatshows those motes that are capable of detecting an infrared image of theperson transiting wall 1200 at time=t_2. Federated content index 916 attime=t_2 is shown composed of subset 3010 of aggregation 910 offirst-administered content indexes at time=t_2 (FIG. 30) and subset 3112of aggregation 912 of second-administered content indexes at time=t_2(FIG. 31). Referring now to FIG. 33, depicted is federated content index916 at time at time=t_3 that shows those motes that are capable ofdetecting an infrared image of the person transiting wall 1200 attime=t_3. Federated content index 916 at time=t_3 is shown composed ofsubset 3010 of aggregation 910 of first-administered content indexes attime=t_3 (FIG. 30) and subset 3112 of aggregation 912 ofsecond-administered content indexes at time_t3 (FIG. 31). Those havingskill in the art will appreciate that in practice federated contentindex 916 will generally be in the form of nested data structures andthat the pictographic representations of how the person would “appear”in FIGS. 32, 33, and 34 are used herein for sake of clarity.

As described elsewhere herein, motes can include any number of deviceswhose capabilities can be captured in content indexes (e.g., federatedcontent index 916). Accordingly, federated content index 916 allowsflexible and powerful searching techniques, a few of which will now bedescribed.

Following are a series of flowcharts depicting embodiments of processes.For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that theinitial flowcharts present embodiments via an overall “big picture”viewpoint and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternateembodiments and/or expansions of the “big picture” flowcharts as eithersub-steps or additional steps building on one or more earlier-presentedflowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the styleof presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation ofa flowchart(s) presenting an overall view and thereafter providingadditions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generallyallows for a rapid and efficient understanding of the various processinstances.

Referring now to FIG. 35, depicted is a high-level logic flowchart of aprocess. Method step 3500 shows the start of the process. Method step3502 depicts accepting input defining a mote-appropriate network task.Method step 3504 depicts searching at least one federated index inresponse to said accepted input. Method step 3505 illustrates presentingan indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task.Method step 3506 shows the end of the process.

With reference now to FIG. 36, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3502 includes method step 3600. Method step3600 shows accepting a visual-task input. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry accepts the visual-task input. Insome specific implementations such as those used in security, electricalcircuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry configured to provide a graphicaluser interface (GUI)) accepts a task of searching for a visible-lightimage (e.g., a task of viewing at least a part of hallway 1200 invisible light). In some implementations such as those used in nursinghomes, electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry configured toprovide a graphical user interface (GUI)) accepts a task of searchingfor a particular shape (e.g., a line drawing of a prone person, such asmight appear if a person were to fall onto the motes of floor 1202 ofFIG. 12). In other implementations, the visual-task input may be moreabstract, such as, for example, a request may be in the form of spatialfrequency content, spectral components, or other aspects of a searchedfor object, event or set of objects.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 36, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3502 includes method step 3602. Method step3602 shows accepting at least one of an infrared-task input or atemperature-task input. In various exemplary implementations, electricalcircuitry accepts the at least one of an infrared-task input or atemperature-task input. In some specific implementations such as thoseused in fire detection, electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitryconfigured to provide a graphical user interface (GUI)) accepts a taskof searching for an infrared signature or temperature (e.g., a task oftracking an infrared signature or temperature in a closet of a buildingindicative of a potential spontaneous combustion). In someimplementations such as those used in agriculture, electrical circuitry(e.g., a touch screen of a computer system showing motes superimposedover particular plants or plant groupings) accepts a task of monitoringvarious plants or groups of plants for either or both an infraredsignature or a temperature profile (e.g., such as might be controlled ina greenhouse environment).

With reference now again to FIG. 36, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3502 includes method step 3604. Method step3604 shows accepting a pressure-task input. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry accepts the pressure-task input.In some specific implementations such as those used in medicine,electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry configured to provide agraphical user interface (GUI)) accepts a task of monitoring pressure atany one or more motes proximate to and/or in a patient's body (e.g.,task of tracking pressure sensed by one or more motes interior to a caston a limb of a patient). In some implementations such as those used influid systems management, electrical circuitry (e.g., an input panelexterior to a piping system) accepts a task of monitoring pressure(e.g., such as might be a task in applications where a system is to givean alert when motes interior to a piping system indicates that thepressure(s) either exceed or fall below one or more defined pressures(e.g., a lowest acceptable pressure in hydraulic lifting system inindustrial equipment)).

With reference now again to FIG. 36, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3502 includes method step 3606. Method step3606 shows accepting a sonic-task input. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry accepts the sonic-task input. Insome specific implementations such as those used in administration,electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry configured to convertmicrophone input to a digital audio file and/or configured to acceptdigital audio directly) accepts a task of monitoring sonic data (e.g.,such as might be the case in an implementation where it might be desiredthat a system determine whether a particular voice has been heard inhallway 1200 during some defined interval of time. In someimplementations such as those used in data processing, electricalcircuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry configured to accept digital audiodirectly) accepts a task of monitoring sonic information (e.g., such asmight be a task in applications where a system is to perform an actionwhen a certain sound pattern over time is detected (e.g., where a systemis to order installation of new hard drives when a time series of audioindicates that a hard disk failure might be imminent).

Referring now to FIG. 37, illustrated is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 3504 includes method step 3706. Method step 3706 showssearching a federated index having at least one first-administeredcontent index and at least one second-administered content index. Invarious exemplary implementations, electrical circuitry successivelysearches the at least one first-administered content index and at leastone second-administered content index for motes having capabilities toprovide various defined types of information necessary to fulfill themote-appropriate network task of method step 3502. In some specificimplementations such as those used in security, electrical circuitry(e.g., electrical circuitry forming a processor configured by a programto perform various tasks) searches for those motes having image and/orpixel capture capabilities (e.g., searching one or more content indexesof federated content index 916 at time=t_1 (FIG. 32), at time=t_2 (FIG.33), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 34) for motes capable of tracking a person'sprogress—in visible light—through the hallway such as shown and/ordescribed in relation to FIGS. 13, 14, and 15). In some implementationssuch as those used in criminal investigations, electrical circuitrysearches for motes having capability(ies) to detect a particular patternof sound over time (e.g., searching one or more content indexes offederated content index 916 for motes capable of detecting a pattern ofsound a gunshot would make at time=t_1 (FIG. 32), at time=t_2 (FIG. 33),and at time=t_3 (FIG. 34) if a gun were to be fired in the hallway ofFIG. 12). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many othersearches may be performed, dependent upon the accepted input definingthe mote-appropriate network task of method step 3502.

With reference now to FIG. 38, shown is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 37. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 3706 includes method step 3800. Method step 3800 illustratessearching at least one of a first-administered mote-addressed contentindex, a first-administered multi-mote content index, or afirst-administered aggregation of content indexes and searching at leastone of a second-administered mote-addressed content index, asecond-administered multi-mote content index, or a second-administeredaggregation of content indexes. In various exemplary implementations,electrical circuitry searches the at least one of a first-administeredmote-addressed content index, a first-administered multi-mote contentindex, or a first-administered aggregation of content indexes and atleast one of a second-administered mote-addressed content index, asecond-administered multi-mote content index, or a second-administeredaggregation of content indexes for various defined types of information.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many other searches may beperformed, dependent upon the accepted input defining themote-appropriate search of method step 3502.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 37, depicted is a high-level logic flowchartillustrating several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 3504 includes method step 3700. Method step 3700 showssearching a time series of at least two federated indexes. In variousexemplary implementations, electrical circuitry successively searches atime series of federated indexes for motes capable of gathering variousdefined types of information related to various specifiedmote-appropriate network tasks. In some specific implementations such asthose used in security, electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitryforming a processor configured by a program to perform various tasks)searches a time series of federated indexes for motes capable ofcapturing image information in the visible light spectrum (e.g.,searching one or more content indexes of federated index 916 at time=t_1(FIG. 32), federated index 916 at time=t_2 (FIG. 33), and federatedindex 916 at time=t_3 (FIG. 34) for one or more motes capable oftracking a person's progress through the hallway such as shown and/ordescribed in relation to FIGS. 13,14, and 15). In some implementationssuch as those used in criminal investigations, electrical circuitrysearches a time series of federated indexes for motes havingcapability(ies) to detect a particular pattern or characteristic ofsound over time (e.g., searching the time series for motes capable ofdetecting a pattern of sound or an acoustic signature a gunshot mightmake at time=t_1 (FIG. 32), at time=t_2 (FIG. 33), and at time=t_3 (FIG.34) if a gun were to be fired in the hallway of FIG. 12). Those skilledin the art will appreciate that many other searches may be performed,dependent upon the accepted input defining the mote-appropriate task ofmethod step 3502.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 37, illustrated is that in one alternateimplementation method step 3504 includes method step 3702. Method step3702 shows searching at least one multi-mote content index of the atleast one federated index. In various exemplary implementations,electrical circuitry searches at least one multi-mote content index ofthe at least one federated index. In some specific implementations suchas those used in security, electrical circuitry searches one or moremulti-mote content indexes, over time, in response to the definedmote-appropriate network task (e.g., electrical circuitry searching oneor more multi-mote content indexes for indications of motes havingcapabilities to monitor a patient's heart for sounds indicative ofarrhythmia). In some implementations such as those used in aviationmaintenance, electrical circuitry searches one or more multi-motecontent indexes, over time, in response to a defined mote-appropriatenetwork task (e.g., electrical circuitry searching one or moremulti-mote content indexes for motes having capabilities to monitor adefined area of aviation equipment, such as a jet engine, for soundsindicative of motor failure). Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat many other searches may be performed, dependent upon the acceptedinput defining the mote-appropriate network task of method step 3502.

With reference now to FIG. 39, shown is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 37. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 3702 includes method step 3900. Method step 3900 showssearching a time series of at least two multi-mote indexes, the timeseries including the at least one multi-mote content index of the atleast one federated index. In various exemplary implementations,electrical circuitry successively searches a time series of at least twomulti-mote content indexes for motes capable of gathering variousdefined types of information appropriate to the mote-appropriate networktask. In some specific implementations such as those used in security,electrical circuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry forming a processorconfigured by a program to perform various tasks) searches a time seriesincluding at least one multi-mote content index of the at least onefederated index for motes capable of capturing an image in visible light(e.g., searching one or more multi-mote indexes of federated index 916at time=t_1 (FIG. 32), federated index 916 at time=t_2 (FIG. 33), andfederated index 916 at time=t_3 (FIG. 34) in order to identify moteshave visible light capabilities appropriate to track a person's progressthrough the hallway such as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS.13, 14, and 15). In some implementations such as those used in criminalinvestigations, electrical circuitry searches a time series of one ormore multi-mote content indexes of federated content index 916 for motescapable of identifying a particular pattern or characteristic of soundover time (e.g., searching one or more content indexes of federatedcontent index 916 for motes capable of detecting a pattern of sound oran acoustic signature a gunshot might make at time=t_1 (FIG. 32), attime=t_2 (FIG. 33), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 34) if a gun were to be firedin the hallway of FIG. 12). Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat many other searches may be performed, dependent upon the acceptedinput defining the mote-appropriate task of method step 3502.

Referring now again to FIG. 37, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation method step 3504 includes method step 3704. Method step3704 shows searching at least one aggregation of content indexes,wherein the at least one aggregation of content indexes forms a part ofthe at least one federated index. In various exemplary implementations,electrical circuitry searches the at least one aggregation of contentindexes, wherein the at least one aggregation of content indexes forms apart of the at least one federated index. In some specificimplementations such as those used in security, electrical circuitry(e.g., electrical circuitry forming a processor configured by a programto perform various tasks) searches at least one aggregation of contentindexes forming a part of the at least one federated index for motescapable of capturing an image in the visible light spectrum (e.g.,searching one or more aggregations of content indexes forming a part offederated index 916 of content indexes at time=t_1 (FIG. 32) for one ormore motes capable of determining if a person was in front of wall 1200at some time=t_1 as shown and/or described in relation to FIG. 13). Insome implementations such as those used in criminal investigations,electrical circuitry searches at least one aggregation of contentindexes forming a part of the at least one federated index for moteshaving capability(ies) to detect a particular sound at a particular time(e.g., having capabilities to detect a certain sound frequency attime=t_1 (FIG. 32)). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manyother searches may be performed, dependent upon the accepted inputdefining the mote-appropriate task of method step 3502.

With reference now to FIG. 40, shown is a high-level logic flowchartdepicting several alternate implementations of the high-level logicflowchart of FIG. 37. Depicted is that in one alternate implementation,method step 3704 includes method step 4000. Method step 4000 illustratessearching a time series of at least two aggregations of content indexes,the time series including the at least one aggregation of contentindexes, wherein the at least one aggregation of content indexes forms apart of the at least one federated index. In various exemplaryimplementations, electrical circuitry searches the at least twoaggregations of content indexes, the time series including the at leastone aggregation of content indexes, wherein the at least one aggregationof content indexes forms a part of the at least one federated index. Insome specific implementations such as those used in security, electricalcircuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry forming a processor configured bya program to perform various tasks) searches for motes capable ofcapturing an image in the visible light spectrum (e.g., searchingaggregations of indexes of federated index 916 at time=t_1 (FIG. 32),federated index 916 at time=t_2 (FIG. 33), and federated index 916 attime=t_3 (FIG. 34) for motes capable of tracking a person's progressthrough the hallway such as shown and/or described in relation to FIGS.13, 14, and 15). In some implementations such as those used in criminalinvestigations, electrical circuitry searches the aggregations for moteshaving capability(ies) to detect a particular pattern of sound over time(e.g., capable of detecting the sound a gunshot would make at time=t_1(FIG. 32), at time=t_2 (FIG. 33), and at time=t_3 (FIG. 34) if a gunwere to be fired in the hallway of FIG. 12). Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that many other searches may be performed, dependentupon the accepted input defining the mote-appropriate task of methodstep 3502.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 40, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3704 includes method step 4002. Method step4002 illustrates searching at least one mote-addressed content index ofthe at least one aggregation of content indexes, wherein the at leastone aggregation of content indexes forms a part of the at least onefederated index. In various exemplary implementations, electricalcircuitry is used to effect the searching of at least one mote-addressedcontent index of the at least one aggregation of content indexes,wherein the at least one aggregation of content indexes forms a part ofthe at least one federated index. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that many other searches may be performed, dependent upon theaccepted input defining the mote-appropriate task of method step 3502.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 40, depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3704 includes method step 4004. Method step4004 illustrates searching at least one multi-mote content index of theat least one aggregation of content indexes, wherein the at least oneaggregation of content indexes forms a part of the at least onefederated index. In various exemplary implementations, electricalcircuitry is used to effect the searching at least one multi-motecontent index of the at least one aggregation of content indexes. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that many other searches may beperformed, dependent upon the accepted input defining themote-appropriate search of method step 3502.

With reference now again to FIG. 41, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3505 includes method step 4100. Method step4100 shows transmitting the indication of motes appropriate to themote-appropriate network task to electrical circuitry configurable toutilize the indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriatenetwork task. In various exemplary implementations, the electricalcircuitry is configured as incorporated by reference herein to use theaccepted mote-appropriate network task input. In some specificimplementations such as those used in administration, electricalcircuitry (e.g., electrical circuitry configured by a computer program)uses the indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate networktask to determine from what motes various content logs (e.g., moteaddressed mote logs, aggregations of mote logs, and or federations ofmote logs) are to be constructed; that is, in some implementations,since the motes appropriate to the task are known, logging of the actualinformation produced by those known capabilities can be scheduled (e.g.,as in prospective applications), performed (e.g., as in real-timeapplications), or searched (e.g. as in retrospective applications). Forexample, when a visual light image search is specified, the circuitrylogs data from the motes listed in the indication of motes appropriateto the mote-appropriate network task (e.g., as appropriate to the visuallight image search). In one specific implementation, the electricalcircuitry is a processor configurable by a computer program to utilizethe indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate networktask. Those skilled in the art will understand, though, that in manyimplementations the electrical circuitry constitutes variouscombinations of hardware, firmware, and/or software as describedelsewhere herein.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 41, illustrated is a high-level logicflowchart depicting several alternate implementations of the high-levellogic flowchart of FIG. 35. Depicted is that in one alternateimplementation, method step 3505 includes method step 4102. Method step4102 shows transmitting the indication of motes appropriate to themote-appropriate network task to electrical circuitry configurable toutilize the indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriatenetwork task. In various exemplary implementations, the indication ofmotes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task is presentedthrough a graphical user interface of a data processing system. Forexample, as might be the case in an implementation where a user hasqueried the data processing system to show the geographic locations ofmotes having certain task-appropriate capabilities to determine fromwhat motes various content logs (e.g., mote addressed mote logs,aggregations of mote logs, and or federations of mote logs) are to beconstructed. For example, when a visual light image search is specified,the circuitry logs data from the motes listed in the indication of motesappropriate to the mote-appropriate network task as having capabilitiesappropriate to a visual image search. In one specific implementation,the electrical circuitry is a processor configurable by a computerprogram to utilize the indication of motes appropriate to themote-appropriate network task. Those skilled in the art will understand,though, that in many implementations the electrical circuitry constitutevarious combinations of hardware, firmware, and/or software as describedelsewhere herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some implementations,the searching described in relation to various processes herein (e.g.,such as those shown/described in relation to FIGS. 35-41) is performedon mote-addressed content indexes, multi-mote content indexes, and/oraggregations of content indexes loaded to computer systems external to amote-appropriate network. For example, as shown/described in relation togateway 704, which can include, for example, one or more of a notebookcomputer system, minicomputer system, server computer system, and/or amainframe computer system. Those skilled in the art will also appreciatethat in other implementations the searching described in relation tovarious processes herein (e.g., such as those shown/described inrelation to FIGS. 35-41) is performed in whole or in part at motes of amote-appropriate network. Those skilled in the art will also recognizethat the approaches described herein are not limited to accepting aninput of a single kind and that the searching may be refined using acombination of inputs, such as a visual definition input combined with asonic definition input. When combined, the searching logic may correlatethe processes temporally or the searches may be combined independentlyof relative time references. Those skilled in the art will alsoappreciate that in other implementations the searching described inrelation to various processes herein (e.g., such as thoseshown/described in relation to FIGS. 35-41) is performed in othercomputer systems consistent with the teachings herein.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; theuse of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that incertain contexts the choice between hardware and software can becomesignificant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs.Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variousvehicles by which processes and/or systems described herein can beeffected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), and that thepreferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processes aredeployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed andaccuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a hardware and/orfirmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, theimplementer may opt for a solely software implementation; or, yet againalternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles bywhich the processes described herein may be effected, none of which isinherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is achoice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployedand the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability)of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that optical aspects of implementations will requireoptically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood as notorious by those within the art that each functionand/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples canbe implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range ofhardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. Inone embodiment, several portions of the subject matter subject matterdescribed herein may be implemented via Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signalprocessors (DSPs), or other integrated formats. However, those skilledin the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosedherein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in standardintegrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one ormore computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or morecomputer systems), as one or more programs running on one or moreprocessors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or moremicroprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof,and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for thesoftware and/or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skillin the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matterdescribed herein are capable of being distributed as a program productin a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of thesubject matter described herein applies equally regardless of theparticular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out thedistribution. Examples of a signal bearing media include, but are notlimited to, the following: recordable type media such as floppy disks,hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digital tape, and computer memory; andtransmission type media such as digital and analog communication linksusing TDM or IP based communication links (e.g., packet links).

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, orany combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various typesof “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “electricalcircuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry havingat least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least oneapplication specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of randomaccess memory), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communicationsdevice (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electricalequipment).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use standard engineering practices to integrate suchdescribed devices and/or processes into mote processing systems. Thatis, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described hereincan be integrated into a mote processing system via a reasonable amountof experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical mote processing system generally includes one or more of amemory such as volatile and non-volatile memory, processors such asmicroprocessors and digital signal processors, computational entitiessuch as operating systems, user interfaces, drivers, sensors, actuators,applications programs, one or more interaction devices, such as USBports, control systems including feedback loops and control motors(e.g., feedback for sensing position and/or velocity, control motors formoving and/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A typical moteprocessing system may be implemented utilizing any suitable availablecomponents, such as those typically found in mote-appropriatecomputing/communication systems, combined with standard engineeringpractices. Specific examples of such components include commerciallydescribed components such as Intel Corporation's mote components andsupporting hardware, software, and firmware.

The foregoing described aspects depict different components containedwithin, or connected with, different other components. It is to beunderstood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, andthat in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achievethe same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement ofcomponents to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated”such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any twocomponents herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can beseen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionalityis achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components.Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being“operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achievethe desired functionality.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from this subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of this subject matter describedherein. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention isdefined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those withinthe art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in theappended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generallyintended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should beinterpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” shouldbe interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should beinterpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will befurther understood by those within the art that if a specific number ofan introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will beexplicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitationno such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, thefollowing appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases“at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations.However, the use of such phrases should NOT be construed to imply thatthe introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or“an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claimrecitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even whenthe same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “atleast one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or“an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” and/or “oneor more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used tointroduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number ofan introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled inthe art will recognize that such recitation should typically beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the barerecitation of“two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically meansat least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, inthose instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B,and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in thesense of one having skill in the art would understand the convention(e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include butnot be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at leastone of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction isintended in the sense of one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together).

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: accepting input defining amote-appropriate network task; searching at least one mote-addressedcontent index in response to said accepted input; and presenting anindication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein said accepting input defining amote-appropriate network task further comprises: accepting avisual-definition input.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein saidaccepting input defining a mote-appropriate network task furthercomprises: accepting at least one of an infrared-definition input or atemperature-definition input.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein saidaccepting input defining a mote-appropriate network task furthercomprises: accepting a pressure-definition input.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein said accepting input defining a mote-appropriate network taskfurther comprises: accepting a sonic-definition input.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said searching at least one mote-addressed contentindex in response to said accepted input further comprises: searching atime series of at least two mote-addressed content indexes.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said searching at least one mote-addressedcontent index in response to said accepted input further comprises:searching at least one multi-mote content index having the at least onemote-addressed content index.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein saidsearching at least one multi-mote content index having the at least onemote-addressed content index further comprises: searching a time seriesof at least two multi-mote indexes, the time series including the atleast one multi-mote content index having the at least onemote-addressed content index.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein saidsearching at least one mote-addressed content index in response to saidaccepted input further comprises: searching at least one aggregation ofcontent indexes, the aggregation having the at least one mote-addressedcontent index.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said searching atleast one aggregation of content indexes, the aggregation having the atleast one mote-addressed content index further comprises: searching atime series of at least two aggregations of content indexes, the timeseries including the at least one aggregation of content.
 11. The methodof claim 9, wherein said searching at least one aggregation of contentindexes, the aggregation having the at least one mote-addressed contentindex further comprises: searching at least one mote-addressed contentindex of the at least one aggregation of content.
 12. The method ofclaim 9, wherein said searching at least one aggregation of contentindexes, the aggregation having the at least one mote-addressed contentindex further comprises: searching at least one multi-mote content indexof the at least one aggregation of content.
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein said presenting an indication of motes appropriate to themote-appropriate network task further comprises: transmitting theindication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task toelectrical circuitry configurable to utilize the indication of motesappropriate to the mote-appropriate network task.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein said transmitting the indication of motes appropriateto the mote-appropriate network task to electrical circuitryconfigurable to utilize the indication of motes appropriate to themote-appropriate network task further comprises: transmitting theindication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task toa processor configurable by a computer program to utilize the indicationof motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said presenting an indication of motesappropriate to the mote-appropriate network task further comprises:presenting the indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriatenetwork task through a graphical user interface.
 16. A systemcomprising: means for accepting input defining a mote-appropriatenetwork task; means for searching at least one mote-addressed contentindex responsive to said means for accepting; and means for presentingan indication of motes appropriate to the mote-appropriate network task.17. The system of claim 16, wherein said means for accepting inputdefining a mote-appropriate network task further comprises: means foraccepting a visual-definition input.
 18. The system of claim 16, whereinsaid means for accepting input defining a mote-appropriate network taskfurther comprises: means for accepting at least one of aninfrared-definition input or a temperature-definition input.
 19. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein said means for accepting input defining amote-appropriate network task further comprises: means for accepting apressure-definition input.
 20. The system of claim 16, wherein saidmeans for accepting input defining a mote-appropriate network taskfurther comprises: means for accepting a sonic-definition input.